


[Needles]

by Fragilister



Category: Watch Dogs (Video Game)
Genre: AU, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Domestic, Drugs, Explicit Language, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Piercer Damien, Piercings, Porn With Plot, Tattoo artist Aiden, Tattoos, everyone is 14 years younger
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-06
Updated: 2015-10-01
Packaged: 2018-02-28 10:16:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 37,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2728616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fragilister/pseuds/Fragilister
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aiden Pearce and Damien Brenks are partners running a small piercing and tattoo shop.</p><p>2017/15/11 EDIT: will be entirely reworked in the coming months!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. [Good_Weeks_Are_Never_Good]

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I'll start with saying; this is something very personal, and I'm not sure why I'm actually publishing this, because probably no one will find it enjoyable. I know it's a very weird AU, as I don't even write a lot of those, but I had to write it inspired by a fanart I accidentally drew (yup, "accidentally" my hand slipped). 
> 
> If you're not into lots of metal body decoration and ink, this might be just an awful experience, don't read it. I mean it. 
> 
> If you are still reading this though, I hope you enjoy and check out my NOT AU fanfiction, also Damien/Aiden.
> 
> Enjoy!

A loud curse echoed through the studio. And then another one. And another.

"Jesus, Aiden. Shut up, this is not your first time. You're a twenty five year old man, just stop whining."

"It really hurts though, couldn't you hurry?"

"I don't want to fuck it up, just don't move. One left."

"We could just do it some other day, Damien."

"It was your will, now sit still and let me do my job, moron."

Aiden Pearce was sitting on a leather chair in the tattoo and piercing studio he was currently working in with his fairly new partner, Damien Brenks. It's been five months since he left his own local in Belfast and moved to the States with his sister to start a better life, away from their father. It has also been almost a year since their mother passed away. He glanced at the small feather tattoo on his forearm that he decided to get on the day of the funeral. He's a had a long break from decorating his body since then, yet there he was, on a leather chair with a needle in the bridge of his nose, as Damien was preparing the jewelry to put it through the new piercing.

"What if it will look really awful?" Aiden muttered as Damien bent over his face again and turned the lamp to shine better on the other man's face.

"I can always take it out later, if you want," he answered in low voice and washed the brow and nose with a desinfectant. "Here it goes, don't you move.

Pearce held his breath and tried to concentrate on anything else than the pain he was to feel in a short while. Though his ears being stretched to almost an inch, and several rings in his ears, a labret and nose piercing, tongue piercings together with a huge tattoo on his back, and a few smaller ones, Aiden was still terrified of needles. Even if he used them for working. Instead of thinking of the silverish instrument of punishment, he stared stubbornly at Damien's face and neck, trying to count his piercings to distract himself while Brenks was positioning the bar behind the needle.

Black simetrical snakebites, vertical eyebrow beads on the right side, one bead on his right cheek and lots of earrings that Aiden knew of, but were now hidden underneath Brenks' beanie. He kept repeating that in his head like a mantra, knowing that this would be over soon, but still not quite liking the sensation at all.

He felt the pressure again and cursed repeatedly under his breath as his heart started beating faster when Damien was skillfully screwing on the metal beads. And it was over. It still hurt like hell itself, but it was over. He breathed out as Damien cleaned the piercing and moved away from him.

"Done?"

"Yeah, done. Wanna see now or later?" Brenks asked and smirked as he put away the needle and desinfectant.

"Later. They always look so ugly in the beginning," Aiden answered and sighed. His entire forehead and nose felt like it was going to explode. He dried away some some tears that ran down his cheeks when Brenks was working.

"Jesus, never again."

"Nicky said you said that last time too. Get your shit together, you've got a client in ten minutes," Damien said nonchalantly and washed his hands in the small sink in the corner of the room.

Aiden sighed and threw his head back on the neck support of the chair. He looked up at the patterns that he painted on the entire ceiling and down the walls, barely a month ago, to fresh up the local a little. It was still small, dark and kind of hideous, but some people for some reason preferred places like these as long as they were clean, and Aiden couldn't blame them. Ink was expensive.

"Is it that questionable underage again?" he asked Damien and got up slowly. He picked up the black cap with the minimalist fox head, that he designed a while back. He brushed through his shoulder long hair and put the cap on.

"Yeah, that french girl. She's like fourteen, will you ink her?" Damien asked and headed for a small door leading to his apartment upstairs.

"She has a really good fake ID. If I don't prove it's fake, it'll be hard to say no, you know her," Pearce muttered and picked up his bag with a laptop in it. Damien wheezed and walked up the stairs.

A few minutes has gone by and Aiden finally got his computer running. He was just looking for his pattern folder, when he heard the bell that was hanging on the door, clang in a light tone. He looked up and wanted to address the girl, asking for her ID again, when he realized it wasn't her. It was a short blond-haired man wearing a full body leather suit and holding a motorcycle helmet between his arm and side. He looked at Aiden unsurely and glanced at the staircase shortly.

"Is Damien home?" he asked and Pearce frowned.

"Is he expecting you?"

"Yeah, I guess. He told me to come like... now? I mean, if he's not here it's..." the guy started talking quickly and looked down at his feet. 

"No, he's here. Upstairs, guide yourself," Aiden said in answer and looked down on his screen again.

The blond muttered a thanks and went straightly upstairs, leaving Aiden browsing through the patterns that the 'Clara' who was to visit the studio, was interested in last time. He hoped that he could tell her how this wasn't a good idea, if she was too young. The last thing they needed was more problems with law and cops snooking around in the studio and in Damien's apartment. In that case, their partnership would sink like Titanic, as Aiden knew about a lot of illegal things Damien was a big admirer of. That kind of things Aiden never used because of his fear of needles.

Pearce looked down on his screen again and turned on some music from his folder. He made himself more comfortable on the chair and stretched out and pulled his fingers together a few times to warm up the small muscles. Though he'd try to talk off Lille of the tattoo idea, he had to be ready for a defeat.

He flinched when he heard the bell give away a sound again. This time it was actually Clara, standing in the doorway and soon heading surely for Aiden's desk.

"Hey, remember me?" she asked with a smirk and Aiden just sighed in answer.

"Yeah. The underage," he murmured and stretched out his arm. "ID? Even the fake one is good, I just need to take a look."

Clara gave it to him wheezing angrily.

"It's NOT fake."

"Girl, I've done my first tattoo on a fake ID, I know how it feels," he said and looked closely on the document. "Sorry, I won't risk it. The thing you want to get is too big. We would be screwed if your parents sued us."

"Don't talk down on me like this, I'm still a client," she said and frowned when Aiden gave her back the card.

"You're not until you're old enough. Goodbye, do come back in five years or so, " he told her firmly and hoped that it would do it.

The girl grabbed the ID, stormed out of the local and shut the door heavily, making Aiden jump up. He exhaled with a chuckle and turned up the music on his laptop while leaning back in the chair again. He patted the rhythm of another 'AC/DC' song on the armrest, satisfied at how good this actually turned out. It was the fourth time Clara has come to them, but this time it didn't seem as she would come back.

He wondered who Damien's client was, it wasn't usual that he took care of people upstairs. It could be something private, that the customer requested, like a piercing in unordinary place or something he was ashamed of, but Aiden also knew that Damien didn't usually accept requests like that. Pearce didn't think about it for too long though, he checked the schedule and when he didn't see any more booked clients for the next hour, he picked up his sketchbook and opened it on a blank page. He grabbed his pencil and started to doodle carelessly all over the book. Suddenly he heard a muffled thud from upstairs and he looked at the stairs and lift one of his eyebrows.

"Damien? Are you okay?" he shouted and got an answer after a short while.

"Yeah, it was nothing," Damien answered breathily with a loud voice too.

"You need any help?"

"No, I'm all good," Brenks added quickly and Aiden heard how he shut the door to his apartment again. He sighed and shook his head slightly. He started to realise slowly that the guy probably wasn't their client at all, but possibly one of Damien's crackhead friends who came to try out something new. That happened seldom but not never.

This time was different though. Aiden would throw himself into his work again, but he couldn't miss the facts that in opposite to the other "friends" of Damien this one didn't disappear after the first week. Or the second. He was visiting quite frequently and Aiden didn't even bother to treat him formally anymore, he even got to know what his name was. Martin.

His working days were getting slow. Week by week passed and for the first time in forever he was financially stable and pretty happy. His piercing healed and looked good, Damien's friend was still visiting often and Clara didn't bother them in a longer while. Everything was going so well, Aiden decided to do something he wanted to do in in a longer while, but didn't have the courage.

"Nicole, I need to tell you something."

"Don't scare me, is it serious? "

"What would you do if I told you, that I'm strictly into guys?"

And she did the thing he didn't expect. Later that day Aiden turned up in the the studio with a big bag in his hand, knocking on Damien's door, as he didn't have any other place to go.

"Could I stay here for some time?"

Damien looked at him confused but opened the door and let him into the small apartment.

"Explanation?" he asked simply and shut the door as Aiden put his baggage on the floor in the living room.

"Nicky kicked me out," Pearce muttered, not looking him in the eye.

"Oh. What did you do? Slept with her bestie or something?" Damien chuckled and sat sat on the couch, reaching for his beer.

"Not exactly," the younger man muttered evasively and sat next to him with a sigh. "We kinda got into a big fight."

He didn't lie. They had a big fight, as his sister got quite upset about him being gay. He tried to tell her for many years now, but there was always a possibility, that she would tell their father, or that she just wouldn't accept it. And she didn't. After the confession she asked him if he was serious and not just joking and when he confirmed it, she just told him to get the hell out of her house. He told her some hard words and they started screaming at each other, he got to know about a lot of things that his nineteen year old sister thought about "people like him", and finally he just packed his stuff in hurry and rushed out from their apartment with Nicole cursing at him, telling how disappointed she was to have a faggot for brother.

But he couldn't tell Damien any of that. It was enough that he got kicked out from his apartment, he didn't have any idea what Brenks thought of that and wouldn't risk losing his job as well.

"You don't wanna talk? Alright," Damien said calmly and turned on the television while putting his feet upon the coffee table, kicking over some empty Chinese food boxes. "You can stay as long as you want, it's cool with me. Roommate would be nice, if you pay the rent."

"Sure. Thanks," Aiden answered shortly, surprised by how straightforward his partner was.

They sat in silence watching some stupid programs on TV until it's gotten really late. Not a word was spoken between them, at some point Damien walked over to the kitchen to get a beer for Aiden. The silence wasn't awkward in any way though, Pearce actually enjoyed how understanding Damien was, not trying to get anything out of him.

"Should I get you a mattress or is the couch fair enough?" Brenks asked him and turned to him lazily.

Aiden smiled faintly and nodded.

"The couch is alright. Thank you again, Damien. I don't know where I would go if not here," he said with a yawn, but then cleared his throat, when he realized how bad that sounded. "I mean, I have other friends, but they are Nicky's friends too, it just wouldn't... I mean..."

"Hush, don't make this more awkward. I know you're not exactly the social type," Damien chuckled and arched his back to stretch with a grunt. Aiden glanced on the small piece of skin that showed when his shirt got lift up slightly, but he looked away quickly.

"Yeah," he muttered and picked up his phone from his pocket if Nicky has messaged him or anything, but no, not even one word.

"I'll go to bed now, there's spare bedding in that wardrobe," Damien said and got up, pointing at the furniture with his chin. "You know where I sleep, if there's any problem or some shit, just knock."

Pearce's sleepy eyes looked up to him as he stood up too and walked over to the wardrobe.

"Yeah I'll do yo... _it_. I'll come over if anything," he corrected himself, feeling as his heart almost stopped. He focused strongly on faking a smile and Damien didn't seem to notice anything, even though Aiden's mind was straying everywhere else but his face.

' _Close call_ ,' he thought when Damien walked out to his bedroom and shut the door behind him.

Pearce looked around him in the dark apartment more closely for the first. time. It was odd to be in it after working hours. It was odd to actually see Damien face to face after 6 pm. And it was surprisingly nice, when he thought about it, that of all people, Damien, as only his coworker, let him stay over almost not knowing him outside work. Pearce was watching him though, a lot, even though it sounded freaky. He knew he didn't even have a small chance with this man, as Damien was definitely straight. Aiden knew that way to certainly. Apparently Damien even had a wife a while back, but got divorced a few years ago.

Aiden also accidentally walked in on Brenks' having sex with some random girls, more than once. He remembered that way too clearly, the picture of Damien's tattooed back bent over some chick in an unambiguous position. The second time was even better, though Aiden scolded himself for thinking of that word in that circumstance, when he got a perfect view on Damien's ass. Of course they never talked about that, once Aiden was pretty sure, that neither Brenks or his lover even noticed him.

He put the bedding on the couch and pulled of his t-shirt and jeans. He saw that Damien got out of his bedroom and walked towards the bathroom wearing just his trunks. Aiden couldn't help but stare after him, but realized quickly that he probably shouldn't. He laid down on the bed and breathed out quietly. He thought that the small crush he had on his partner would cease as suddenly as it appeared a few weeks back, but apparently it wouldn't be that easy.


	2. [Not_Your_Boss]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I ain't gonna lie. This chapter is like 76% smut.
> 
> Enjoy!

The next day they worked as usual. Same about the rest of the month, as the busy Valentine's Day period was coming closer and closer and stupid couples were appearing in their studio more and more often to get cliche tattoos of each other's names on their wrists and ribs. It was surely a busy time of the year, also mentally tiring, when Aiden tried to talk some common sense into those people's brains. He was sure he'd see the same people asking him to cover up the tattoo with something else a few months after the Valentine's day, when they found their precious girlfriend or boyfriend fucking some other people or just realized how they didn't fit together anymore. It was the same very year.

And as every year, they ran out of pink, blackand red ink. Aiden checked the schedule and saw that it was his partner's turn to get out for some shopping. They had a fully booked day tomorrow, and it was already late in the afternoon, so they had to make the trip quick.

"Damien!" he shouted to Brenks, who was upstairs as usual when his day was over. "Fuck," Aiden swore, when he didn't get any answer. He walked up to the apartment, wondering if Damien and his friend weren't laying somewhere, heavily baked, and making him have to go shopping himself. "Damien?" he muttered again, and went over to his bedroom, which door was slightly open.

He looked inside and stiffened, not even surprised at first when he saw more than one person on the bed. He wanted to turn around and leave again, when he noticed something that wasn't fitting the usual pattern.

"Jesus," he let out and looked away, when Damien cursed and covered him and his lover with the blanket. It wasn't the girl he saw last time. Not the redhead. Not the mother, not even the fat one. It was the blond guy, who's been visiting them so many times. "For fucks sake Damien, you've got a roommate, just close the fucking door," Aiden whined, staring first at Damien's flushed face, and then at two big hickeys on the other man's neck and shoulder. Pearce turned around, with a difficulty, and shut the door behind him, leaning against it.

His heartbeat has gotten faster, when he walked downstairs again, grabbed his coat and rushed out on the street for a walk, to give Brenks some time to get his shit together, the way he would want it if he was in the same situation. He headed directly for their "ink dealer", as Damien usually called their friendly supply shop, pretty sure that he couldn't ask his partner to buy the stuff now. After several minutes of walking, his breath has calmed again and he felt a smirk light up his face. Damien Brenks was into guys. He could get laid with Damien Brenks, on whose ass he's been staring since the first day of working at his place. Though he knew that Damien was kind of a slut, Aiden couldn't deny that it was a relief.

When he was already walking home, it was almost entirely dark outside. He heard his phone vibrate in his pocket and picked it up, not slowing down.

"Where are you?" Damien asked, when he picked up the phone.

"Ten minutes, bought ink," Aiden answered calmly and chuckled. "Is he gone now? I must've scared the shit out of him."

Brenks laughed unsurely, sounding slightly embarrassed.

"I don't think he'll come back, you made him quite uncomfortable, that's for sure."

"You never told me you were into guys, it kind of surprised me."

"You never told me you were fucking blind, Pearce," Damien laughed but cut it shortly.

"Could we talk when I get home?" Aiden said with a chuckle. "Because I'm pretty sure that you're blinder than I am," he added before ending the call, when Damien blurted out something unclear.

 

When he later got back to the apartment, Damien was downstairs. He was wearing a tank top instead of the shirt he usually preferred, exposing the full tattoo sleeve on his left arm. He had put Aiden's computer on the desk and played loud punk music, so he didn't even notice when Pearce entered the local, because his back was turned on the door. He was busy organizing some tools and ink bottles on the shelf, and turned around only when Pearce turned down the volume and handed him the plastic bag with the ink they were missing.

"Hi," he said with a faint smile and slid off his coat to put it on the chair. Brenks was confused for a second or two, but then returned the smile. Aiden saw that he didn't wear his usual beanie and his dark blond hair was a mess.

He glanced on his entire body and looked away, feeling a warmth pool in his chest. Trying to push away the feeling, he lifted up the coat again and hanged it on the hanger closer to the front door.

"Hi," Damien answered quietly and looked up to him with a mischievous sparkle his blue eyes. "That's why Nicky kicked you out, wasn't it?"

"She said I'm a worthless faggot, but I guess she just needed an excuse to get rid of me," Aiden said bitterly. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. But you didn't tell me either."

"Hey, don't be. I should've warned you, that was stupid," Damien muttered and put the last ink bottles in place. "Wanna fuck?"

Aiden snorted and turned back to him, not even surprised by his offer, as he knew how direct Damien usually was.

"I would, but I know more than three reasons why it's a bad idea," he laughed and headed for the stairs.

"Like what, am I not your type?" Damien asked with fake bitterness in his voice.

Aiden looked down to him again. He would never find the right words to tell him how attractive he was to him, but he just grinned and walked upstairs and opened the door to their apartment. Damien has locked the door downstairs and walked up after him just after a while. Aiden has already lied down on the couch in the center of the room with his sketchbook.

"By the way, I told you that you aren't allowed to use my laptop," he murmured when Brenks bent over him from behind his back to see what he was drawing.

"I pimped it up a little. And I've found that freaky porn you got on it, that's kind of how I almost knew before you came out to me," Damien chuckled and breathed on the back of Aiden's neck. "Come on, it will be fun."

"One shouldn't be sleeping with his boss," Pearce muttered, as he felt how hot he was getting. But he liked playing this game.

"I'm not your boss, your partner, yes, but not your boss," Brenks muttered and put his head on Aiden's shoulder, feeling his stubble scratch against his cheek. "Come on, I know you're into me, Aiden.

Pearce wheezed and shut the book with a sigh.

"You're such a slut, Brenks."

"Is that a yes?"

"No, it's a 'you're a slut'. You don't even care about the gender, do you?" Aiden asked as he felt Damien's hands on his shoulders, massaging him. He twitched slightly, when Damien pulled off his cap and put it on the table carefully. "I really would, Damien, but I'm a little unsure if it will work."

"Why?"

"You want to be on top?" he asked with a smirk, and let Brenks' skilled hands travel down his chest and underneath his t-shirt. He felt that he would be hard in a short matter of time and his muscles tensed when Damien kissed his neck, feeling no resistance.

"So?" he murmured and touched Aiden's bare stomach.

"I won't bottom for you, forget it," Pearce said, but leaned his head back, to give Damien more area to take care of with his lips.

"Have you ever even tried it?" he asked and worked his way up along his jaw and chin.

"No. Not really my thing," the younger man said and shut his eyes with a slight smile. "Also, I don't sleep with guys who sleep around as much as you do, don't wanna take any risks."

"You know me, Aiden, I'm not like that," Brenks murmured and ran his fingers through his hair and kissing his neck again. Pearce felt the cold metal of his snake bites against his skin. "How about we just make out and not even mention it tomorrow?"

"Fair enough," Aiden finally breathed and let Damien walk around the couch and sit astride his hips. He chuckled when he felt how hard Aiden already was through his jeans.

"Since when have you been thinking about me like this?" he whispered directly into his ear, while pulling on one of his ear plugs with his teeth. Pearce's hands have crept up underneath Damien's tank top, but then travelled down again to clench on his ass.

"Too long," Aiden chuckled, before Damien kissed his lips hungrily, but slowly. His fingers ran through his hair and when Aiden parted his lips a little, he let his tongue flick around his, discovering two of Pearce's piercings that he didn't know about yet.

"I've imagined that you'd be way rougher," Aiden mumbled, when Damien moved away from him a little and pulled on some of the rings on Aiden's ear with his teeth. He snorted with laughter shortly and dug his hands underneath the other man's t-shirt.

"You imagined this? Now that's hot," he murmured and ran his fingers over Aiden's ribs and abdominal muscles, before he kissed him on the lips again.

"I really need a shower after this," Pearce grunted when he felt his erection grow bigger, as Damien ground his hips against his in a needy way.

"A 'shower', that's a good way to say it," Damien smirked and reached down to unbuckle Aiden's belt and slid his hands into his jeans to fondle his buttocks slowly.

"Jesus, Damien..." Aiden hissed and felt how his desire was growing with every caress and move of the other man. "Take your shirt off."

"Changed your mind?"

"No, I just want to see your tattoos," he said with a smirk, actually sincerely.

"Kinky, eh?" Damien breathed and obeyed, pulling off his top, but getting stuck halfway through, because of his earrings. "Fuck, help me," he laughed and Aiden reached up to him, starting to laugh too. "Those are problematic."

"But they look hot," Pearce chuckled and freed him from the shirt after a moment of struggle.

He looked in an admiring way on Damien's bare abdomen and the rest of his exposed sleeve tattoo, which ran out over the entire left side of his chest. Aiden slid his fingers along one of the black aztec lines and up to his collarbone, where he had pierced two beads. Damien let him explore his chest in silence and look at the small tattoo of a ship on the right side of his lower ribs.

"I'd like to meet the artist who did this," Aiden said after a while and slid his hands along Damien's sides and shoulders.

"Sometimes I really think that the only thing that _really_ turns you on is art," Brenks murmured and let his hands travel underneath the fabric of Aiden's trousers again to slid them off a little to expose his trunks and visible erection trapped inside. "Quite a package, I dig it."

"Damien, we were supposed to make out," Pearce reminded him, but didn't stop him from touching his lower parts, as it was quite enjoyable.

"You want my top undressed, I want your bottom undressed," Brenks said firmly and pulled down his pants entirely, helping Aiden to kick them off. "Damn, you are so hot."

"You're welcome," Aiden laughed and grabbed him by the back of his neck to kiss him again, moving his hand to Damien's cheek and caressing it lightly. He stroked his chest feeling the softness of Brenks' chest hair underneath his fingers. Their lips parted and Damien bit Aiden's lip softly before he ran his tongue down his neck and chest, marking his skin with wet kisses. Aiden couldn't stop a short quiet groan from escaping his mouth, when Damien circled with his tongue around his belly button and then sucked on the skin on his lower stomach, while caressing his hips on both sides.

"What a sound, Pearce,"  Damien murmured and looked up to him with a smirk. "Went straight to my cock."

"Fuck," the younger man cursed under his breath and almost cried out when Damien bit his inner thigh, but he suppressed the sound and shut his eyes. "Damien, could you tell me something?"

"What?" he asked and his tongue flicked Aiden's cock through the fabric, making him squirm shortly.

"What do you count as 'making out'?" Pearce purred in low voice as Damien's lips begun their journey towards his face again. All the time he made sure to slip his chest against Aiden's cock very slowly.

"Lots of things," Damien answered and started kissing him passionately again, while grinding his cock against Aiden's and stroking as much of his body as he could. Pearce arched his back and grabbed Damien by his hips to make his moves faster, feeling his climax build up inside of him weirdly fast.

"Oh God!" he groaned into his mouth, as Damien stopped suddenly and pinned him down in the couch, making him unable to move.

"You like it a lot, don't you, Aiden?" he whispered directly into his ear and Aiden just nodded, licking his lip, as Damien started nibbling on his neck. Their breaths were heavy and uneven, and Aiden's body was crossed by shivers with every move that Brenks made upon him.

"You want me to make you come?" Damien growled quietly and Aiden nodded again, not daring to open his mouth to not let any embarrassing sounds come out. Damien laughed at his expression and started flicking Aiden's ear plug with his tongue. "Now we're talking. Will you beg?"

Pearce looked at him reproachfully and couldn't help but grunt, when Damien's hand ran underneath his t-shirt and over his nipple. But he was too proud to beg, even though his partner was extremely persuasive. Brenks snorted with short laughter.

"Alright then. Just wait until next time, I'll have you begging me on your knees to fuck you," he purred while running his tongue over Aiden's ear and picking up the moves again, grinding his entire body against him, while moving his lips over to Pearce's again.

Aiden grabbed his ass and hugged him closer to his body, shutting his eyes, when he felt Damien's tongue dance inside his mouth and his entire firm body rub against his manliness, already sticky of pre-cum. His muscles tensed and he tangled his legs together with Damien's, feeling that his orgasm would fill him up any moment. Brenks was panting against him, in the same state as Aiden, running his fingers through his hair and leaving nail marks on the back of his neck. He came just before Aiden, whose blood rushed, when he felt Damien squirm and twitch upon his body. He didn't need anything else, he came strongly with a loud groan against Brenks' mouth.

He spasmed grunting and cursing, with his eyes opened just for a while to see Damien's pleasure, before he too shut his eyes and threw his head back. Damien kissed him again and then moved away a little to kiss his chin instead, grumbling, feeling electric waves of pleasure welling up inside of him.

"Oh shit," Aiden let out after a while of just breathing heavily.

"Agreed," Damien breathed and rested his face on Aiden's shoulder. "This was better than any of the times with Martin."

"You're welcome," Pearce murmured and sighed with a smirk. "Now I definitely need a shower. An actual shower."

"You ruined my jeans," Damien laughed and relaxed his body, burdening Aiden with his weight.

"You ruined them yourself."

"We need to do this more often."

"Definitely. Shower together?"

"That means another round, doesn't it? I feel like passing out," Brenks chuckled and tried to get up slowly, but failed and fell over Aiden again. Pearce snorted with laughter and fondled his hair freely. "Just give me a minute."

"Of course," he answered and yawned. "Or maybe just an ordinary shower. That was tiring."

"No lies, best thirteen minutes of my life," Brenks confessed with a snort. "And I didn't even really fuck you."

They laid like that in silence, calming their breaths.

"Have you changed your sheets after that guy, when I was gone?"

"Yeah, why are you asking?"

"I'm sleeping in your bed."

They started laughing quietly and Damien kissed him shortly on the lips again. Aiden lift his abdomen a little and sat up, touching Brenks' spine carefully.

"Come on up," he murmured into his ear and chuckled.

"I'll try," Damien answered and freed himself from Aiden's grip to try to get up, succesfully this time. He reached out to Aiden and grabbed his hand to help him up. "Damn, you're heavy."

"You're not a feather yourself, asshole." Pearce smirked and headed for the small bathroom, pulling off his t-shirt on the way and throwing it on the ground. Damien followed him with a satisfied smile on his lips, also sliding off his trousers and bending down to get rid of his socks. When he got inside the bathroom, Aiden was already all bare before him and getting behind the shower curtain.

"Hey, I knew of the fox tattoo, but you never told me it continued all the way over your ass," Damien laughed, as he followed him with his gaze, pulling his own soaked trunks off too. "Suits you."

"Stop talking and come here," Aiden answered, turning on the water and customizing the temperature.

Damien obeyed and yawned loudly, when he entered the shower.

"Wash me?" Aiden asked with a light smile, when he turned his back on Brenks, who took the shower head from him and let water stream over the younger man's back. "You know what?"

"What?"

"I think I want to get spider bites."

Damien chuckled and grabbed a bottle of shampoo, to squeeze some out onto Aiden's hair.

"Don't you think you've got enough metal in your face?"

"You of all people should know that there's never enough metal in one's face."

"That's not true at all, remember that guy from last week, with those giant..."

"Come on, you're ruining the mood," Pearce said and ground his head against Damien's hand, taking a step back to feel his body against his. "That guy was really gross."

Damien put the shower head away and grabbed some soap to spread the foam on Aiden's body. He flinched in response, as the piercer's fingers massaged his hips and went on lower to get rid of the mess he left earlier.

"On a scale from 'hell no, I'll pass out' to 'fuck me until I pass out', how much do you want another round?" Brenks asked with a chuckle, when Aiden reached back behind him to pull him closer by his ass.

"Stupid," he murmured and turned around to face him and kiss him shortly on the lips. "On that scale it's something like 'yes, if you were a blushing bottom'."

"That's never going to happen."

"Then I'll stick to a 'hell no, I'll pass out'. We can still get some fun though," Pearce laughed and moved him under the stream of water, washing his body thoroughly. Damien sighed and let him carry on, while running his fingers through his hair. He pitied that he wasn't tall enough to rest his chin upon Aiden's head, but at least he could kiss his forehead and eyebrow, as the younger man treated his dirty skin in silence. His gentle moves were lighting a fire somewhere inside him, but he was way too tired to initiate anything more than a simple return of Pearce's touch, while the hot water was streaming down their bodies and made the small cabin all steamy. Aiden nibbled on his neck tenderly, finally pushing him against the wall and kissing his lips again, while his fingers danced on Damien's hips.

"Calm down a little, we're working tomorrow," Brenks breathed when he let go and smirked, as Aiden actually moved away from him slightly.

"Yeah, you're right. We should go to sleep," he said in a low voice with a teasing smile, making Brenks' heart skip a beat, and he couldn't help but grab Aiden by his chin again and kiss him deeply one last time, before they rinsed the foam of their skin, dried their bodies and got out of the bathroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed c:


	3. [Partners]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THERE, I'm back. I hope you enjoyed it so far, because I sure did. 
> 
> Have fun reading!

The next day was as usual, exept for the beginning of it. Aiden was very confused, when he didn't wake up on the couch in the morning, but on Damien's bed in his steady grip upon his chest. And exept for several occasions, when Brenks would brush against him randomly, when they passed eachother between serving their clients. As Aiden requested, they didn't talk anything about the happenings of last evening, but Pearce could still almost feel Damien's touch on his bare skin, when he glanced at him while he was working. He could almost see what was going on in that dirty mind of his, when they caught eye contact on accident. Finally when they had a break at the same time, Aiden pulled Damien up to the apartment and pushed him against the wall roughly to kiss his lips.

"Wasn't that supposed to be a one-timer?" Damien chuckled, when Aiden pressed his body up against his in a needy way.

"If it was, it isn't anymore," he murmured as Damien's hands rested on his ass and tapped a rhytm of the song that they played downstairs. "For fucks sake, why aren't you a bottom?"

"Why aren't _you_ a bottom? I'm pretty sure you'd like it," Brenks said lifting his brow and letting Aiden kiss him forcefully again.

"I'll think about it. I'll need to know if you're clean, in first place."

"Of course I'm clean, who do you think I am?" Damien hissed, but dropped the bitter tone, when Aiden's teeth pulled his lip and he put his hands on Brenks' face, caressing it slowly, before he moved away again. "God, you really are a great kisser."

"Next client in six minutes," Pearce mumbled, when Damien's fingers dug underneath his t-shirt.

"I know," Damien said and pulled him closer, kissing his neck and shoulder. "We've missed so many days like this, Aiden."

"I'd fuck you so hard right now," he murmured and bit Damien's ear delicately.

"I bet you would," Brenks answered and  let his fingers work his way up and down his spine. "Back to work, break is over."

"And you're saying you're not my boss," Aiden muttered and moved away from him with a sigh, before he went down the stairs again.

"Officially I'm not, it's just what you think of me," Damien chuckled and fixed his shirt, before he followed Pearce down to the studio again.

"Bullshit."

Their client was already waiting downstairs when they arrived. Or actually it was just Damien's client, as Aiden wasn't really as experienced in piercing to fulfill his needs. The man with dreadlocks has made some very specific requests, that demanded a skilled professional.

"Is it... your eh... design, sir?" Damien asked unsurely, picking up the weird crooked wire with two loose metal beads on the ends.

"Yeah. That's for the nose, this one is for helix and this one goes in the back of my neck," the man said and picked out two other wires, also bent in an odd manner. Brenks reached for them and looked closer at their strange structure, measuring them between his fingers.

"Sir..."

"T-Bone. Or Ray. I'm uncomfortable with that formal shit," the man said rolling his eyes and Aiden couldn't help but smirk from behind his desk, when he saw Damien's annoyed expression.

"Alright, _T-Bone_. I won't be lying to you, this will hurt as fuck," he said after a moment of awkward silence. "And, as I've never done anything quite like this, I have no idea how long time this will heal, I'd prefer to put in normal jewelry and change it when it has healed..."

"No, I want this one. Bring it on, boss. I'm a hard man."

"A few more bucks and we could desentisize you, if you want," Aiden said from where he was sitting, looking down at the screen of his computer again.

"Come on kid, I've done worse. Just get the needles and beam me up, Scotty," T-Bone laughed and Damien just stood up with a sigh to get the tools. He gestured Ray to sit on the leather chair and opened a drawer to pick up a clamp and three needles secured in plastic containers.

"Aiden, come here. I'll need help," he said in low voice.

Aiden recognized that tone very well. It usually meant 'he'll probably scream so you need to knock him out or hold him down'. Pearce stood up slowly and walked towards them while rolling up the sleeves of his shirt.  When he was already standing next to the chair, he suddenly understood Damien's aversion to their client. He was reeking of alcohol and smoke, blended with a subtle tone of an old trashcan. As Aiden picked up a bottle with disinfectant and cotton pads, Damien was searching for insurance papers that were quite necessary in this case.

Soon he found a pen and left his signature on the original paper and it's copy. After that he gave them to Aiden, who repeated his action in silence.

"What's that?" Kenney asked, when Aiden moved the sheet to him and let him read through the conditions.

"We don't know if the odd shape and metal is secure, so we need you to sign that you won't blame us if the piercings cause a bigger infection or something like that," Aiden explained patiently and sat on the small table next to the chair.

Ray wheezed and left an unclear, ugly signature on both papers, without reading through the other page.

"Dude, I've worked in this business. I know how to do stuff like this," he said and returned the conditions to Brenks' outstretched hand. "Let's get this over with," Ray said and rested his forearms on the armrests.

Aiden exchanged short looks with Damien, but he just shrugged his shoulders.

"Which one first? Helix?" he asked while putting one rubber glowes and after a moment pulling out one of the needles from a box.

"Whatever you want," Ray said and moved away one of the dreadlocks covering his right ear. Aiden disinfected it carefully and switched with Damien to have a better angle for eventual holding down T-Bone.

Damien put Ray's wires on the table besides them and disinfected them too, same about the needle, before he grasped Kenney's ear firmly to bury the needle in it without any warning. T-Bone flinched a little, and Aiden got ready to hold him down so he wouldn't move, but it wasn't needed. Ray breathed out and clenched his teeth, when Damien put the first part of the awfully complicated wire through the first hole and pierced another two punctures to lead the rest of it through his helix. Finally he grabbed the two beads and clamped the wire as he screwed on both of the metal beads. Ray didn't even give away one sound while Brenks' was working skillfully and Aiden was amazed at how much pain resistance this man had.

"Aiden," Damien murmured, when he was done and nodded at the bleeding ear. Pearce hurried to clean and disinfect the wound as Damien put away the needle and glanced at Ray's face.

"Are you alright?" he asked shortly and T-Bone grinned in answer.

"Any day."

"You need a break, or can we go on?"

"Just stick it in," he laughed and suddenly Aiden stiffened, when he felt that the man's hand was lift from the armrest and now made it's way up to his ass. He gulped in anger, but couldn't let himself lose his temper. He was too much of a professional for that. While still cleaning the small wound with one hand, he grasped Ray's wrist with the other one and moved it away, putting it on Kenney's own knee.

Damien didn't notice anything, as he was busy trying to work out how he would put the weirdly bent thing through Ray's septum. Aiden glanced at him shortly, but finally just moved away, when T-Bone's hand clenched on his buttock again. He stood out of his reach when Brenks grabbed a second needle and asked T-Bone to explain to him how the hell this was supposed to look. He started telling him and showed which way it was to be pierced, but he looked at Aiden with a smirk now and then. Pearce crossed his hands upon his chest and looked away angrily, not even looking when Damien struggled with piercing Ray.

When he moved away to prepare for the next one, Aiden had to get closer to T-Bone carefully again. He felt his grasp on him as soon as he leaned down to disinfect his new piercing. He cursed under his breath and moved him away again. When he was done, he walked away a few steps and poked Damien between his ribs, pointing with his chin on the stairs, when he looked at him. A silent 'what' formed on his lips and he lift one eyebrow, but excused smiling Ray and followed Aiden up to their apartment.

"What do you think you're doing, Aiden?" he hissed at him and leaned against the doorframe, when they got into the small living room.

"He was touching my ass, I'm not going down to him again. Handle it yourself," he whispered rolling his eyes and crossing his arms on his chest. Damien's eyes widened and he clenched his fist. Aiden couldn't help but chuckle at his reaction. "Easy there, tiger," he said still in low voice. "We're professionals, just serve him and try to not hurt him."

"That stinky dude is annoying as fuck," Damien muttered and glanced at his partner again. "Are you okay though?"

"Yeah, it's not like he raped me. Don't get so jealous, you're not my boyfriend," he let out and opened the door again, when Brenks looked away with an abashed expression. "Go and finish your job, we're almost done for today."

"Yeah," the older man said and walked down to the studio again, glancing at Aiden over his shoulder.

Pearce got further into the apartment and started organizing the trash and dishes that Damien left after yesterday's dinner. While he fixed the cushions, that they messed up last night on the couch, he heard a scream downstairs. He stopped and looked up questioningly, when he heard Brenks' cold voice saying 'I told you it would hurt sir, but we're done now'. He chuckled quietly and got back to his occupation. It wouldn't take long before he heard studio's front door open and get shut with way too much force than necessary. After that he heard all the locks get locked downstairs and Damien going up to the apartment again.

"Done. You're getting a bonus next month," he muttered bitterly, making Aiden burst out laughing.

"I hope you didn't paralyze him or anything?" he asked with a smirk, putting the last cushion in place.

"No. But trust me, I wanted to."

 "Why am I not surprised?" Aiden laughed and sighed, when Damien walked up to him and pressed his soft lips against his, almost making him trip over the backrest of the couch.

Aiden pulled him closer by his shirt and smirked, when Brenks turned his cap's peak to the back of his head so it wouldn't be in the way.

"Aiden Pearce, no one is touching your ass but me," Damien murmured when their lips parted and his hands travelled down to said place.

"Since when are you so possesive?" Aiden asked and tilted his head slightly back, too see more of Damien. He steadied his hands on the couch behind his back to not fall over, when Damien put more pressure into kissing him again shortly.

He smiled slightly, when Aiden flinched because of his touch.

"Since yesterday."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's so short, but I felt like this was just enough.
> 
> Comment if you like it (or if you don't like it), I really REALLY love comments!


	4. [No_Feelings_Involved]

Though last night was all good, Aiden went back to sleeping on the couch.

"We can still have some fun, Damien, but I don't want any feelings involved," he explained, when he was tucking himself into the sheets, feeling Damien's questioning gaze on him.

"I get it. Just job and sex, no feelings," Damien said and smirked slightly, crossing his arms on his chest. "It wasn't what I wanted anyway."

"Goodnight, partner," Pearce said nodding at him and turned off the lamp standing on the table.

"Yeah. Goodnight, Aiden," Brenks murmured slowly and walked back to his room.

He didn't really know what to think about that deal. Of course, he still wasn't fully over his wife, but he was afraid that he might have started to develop some feelings towards Aiden, slightly different than desire. That wasn't planned at all, especially not this quickly.

Brenks lied on the bed, pulling off his clothes. He hid his face in his hands and breathed out slowly. He didn't know for how long he could go on like this. Usually he really liked relationships like these, strictly about sex, but but he felt like it was different with Aiden.

Every night he laid like that, unable to fall asleep, and he couldn't understand why. Aiden wouldn't ever let him go further than the first night, as he was still a too proud top. Maybe that's what made him a little special. Damien thought to himself how stupid that was, treating him like a challenge, but it worked for a while. Almost a month. But already when he was getting jealous in the very beginning, he understood that he lost against Aiden's charm, even though Pearce seemed to be everything but affectionate when it came to their contacts outside the apartment.

Business.

Sex.

No feelings involved.

But then another night came, and Aiden was all over him, biting, sucking and kissing his skin. Damien moaned out his name, fixing his grip on Pearce's head, when his tongue was dancing on his cock. Then, just before his climax came, Brenks grunted again with Aiden's name on his lips, followed by a quiet but clear confession, which he hoped Pearce didn't hear. He almost believed that version until Aiden got up after a while and walked out of the room in silence with a surprised expression. He shut the door and after a short while Damien heard that he had gone to sleep on the good old couch.

Brenks cursed under his breath, wondering how he would explain this mistake tomorrow. He could blame it on the bottle of wine they shared earlier. Or on how numb of pleasure he was at that time. He knew Aiden enough to know that he would peacefully buy it, but not forget it.

It didn't go quite as he planned. The next morning Pearce didn't bring it up in any way, but he didn't initiate any more touches, neither did he respond to Damien's suggestions. A few days have passed and nothing has changed.

"Hey, what's up with you?" Damien asked finally, when even on Saturday Aiden used his work as an excuse, even though Brenks knew that he barely had any clients in that period. "I hate your quiet days, kiddo," he joked carefully and ran his fingers through Aiden's hair, while he was laying on the couch and drawing as usual.

"Quiet days are something couples have, Damien," he answered in low voice. He didn't move away Damien's hand, but Brenks felt that he wasn't trying to get more of his touch, quite the opposite. "I'm just not in the mood. "

"If it's about the stupid thing I said, I'm so..."

"It's alright. I understand that it was an accident, forget it."

Damien moved away his hand. _'I don't want to forget it, '_ he thought to himself, but didn't say anything out loud.

"Why are you so pissed then?" he asked instead and sat on the couch lifting Aiden's legs and placing them on his own knees instead.

Pearce didn't answer at first but then sighed and turned his face away from him.

"I found the heavy stuff you hid under the sink, Damien. You told me you've stopped, why did you lie?" he muttered, looking him in the eye.

Brenks flinched and turned on the television, browsing through all channels.

"Damien," Aiden pushed and didn't look away. "I really don't care what you put in your veins, dude. I mean I care, but... You know what I mean."

"Where are you getting with this?"

"You're spending way too much money on that. We need to pay rent, pay for supplies," Pearce started again with a sigh. "You got addicted, Damien. I don't want you to... You can't just... I'm worried, okay? You stop or I leave. I'm okay with a lot of things, but I'm not okay with just standing by while you're ruining your life."

Damien stopped switching the channels and rested his head against the backrest of the couch, shutting his eyes. His fingers caressed Aiden's legs slowly and he didn't want to answer. Aiden was right, of course. It wasn't a secret that he had a weakness for heroin and other hard stuff, but it wasn't frequent before, just for special occasions. He even smoked crack with Aiden once, though Pearce hated drugs besides weed. They would get high together a little now and then, but this wasn't the same thing. Not the hard stuff.

It's already been going on for a while, that he realized he wasn't doing it for fun anymore. When Aiden told told him something was wrong about three weeks ago, he didn't care much. But it was different now.

"I'm sorry. You're right about everything," he muttered. "Truth is, Aiden... " he said slightly louder. _'I'm in love with you and I'm more addicted to you than to anything else.'_ But he couldn't say that. "The truth is that I'm a sad loser. Could you help me?"

Pearce smirked and sat up on the couch.

"You're not sad, just a loser. And we'll begin the rehab by getting rid of your goodies," he said firmly, but then leaned in closer to Damien and added, "I'm sorry I wouldn't talk to you. I just had to make sure."

"To make sure that what?" Brenks asked nervously and felt Aiden's hand travel up his thigh.

"That you're not falling for me. Until we've made that clear, you're not kissing me on the lips. At all," he said and turned his face to Damien's neck, when he tried to lean in.

"You're ridiculous, it's not like it would affect anything anyway," he wheezed, when Aiden hugged in his face where Damien's shoulder and neck meets. "Still not in the mood?" he asked with a chuckle, when Aiden moved to wrap his legs around Damien, sitting on his lap.

"Just a few minutes, before we gather up your goodies, crackhead," Pearce murmured and let his hands slip underneath Damien's t-shirt.

"Aiden, do you want to..."

"No."

"Are you sure, because..."

"No."

"Hey, watch your attitude. I don't like being dominated," Damien said playfully, but with a warning in his voice. Aiden tensed, when he felt Damien's steady grip on the back of his neck. "If you don't like that either, you better not try to sass me."

"Or what?" Pearce laughed and gave away a muffled shout of surprise, when Damien lift him swiftly and tossed on the couch, so that he would be towering over him instead, pressing his hips with his against the couch.

"Or I'll have to punish you, one way or another," he murmured and wanted to kiss Aiden's lips, but remembered what he said earlier and headed lower to his neck instead. Pearce sighed, clearly pleased and relaxed his muscles.

"Whatever, as long as you  don't take my 'top dudebro'-status," he chuckled and caressed his cheek with his thumb. "It's good you're not in love with me, Damien. Love is a mess, you know that."

"Yeah," Damien said.

 _'I fucked up,'_ Damien thought.

Aiden's hand worked it's way to his zipper, while the other one ran up and down his spine.

_'I really fucked up.'_


	5. [Average?]

  
"Just let me take it. Just a little, it can't make it worse."

"We got rid of it, remember?"

"Aiden Pearce, I feel like fucking dying here!"

Aiden wheezed and looked away from the television to glance down on Damien, whose head was laying upon his knees. He was pale and small sweatdrops appeared on his forehead. His eyes were shut and he was tapping a fast rythm with his fingers on Aidens hand, which was resting on his chest.

They were on the third day of getting Damien off heroin, and he felt simply like shit. He was barely one step from knocking out Aiden and trying to get his dealer again for another dose, just a small one, just to deafen his awful hunger.

"Please, turn the tv off. I can almost _taste_ that news-guy's voice," he muttered and sighed, when Aiden obeyed, trying to not make any rapid moves. A while ago Brenks asked him to turn off all lights. Even earlier, to close all windows and cover them with curtains. So they were laying on the couch in complete darkness on a Friday evening in silence, just sometimes interrupted by a police siren or other everyday sound of Chicago.

"Remind me, why did I ever agree to this?" Damien groaned and reached with his shaking hand for a glass of water standing on the table.

"The real question is, why did _I_ ever agree to this? I could be out meeting people and doing... things, but no, here I am, curing a drug addict," Aiden said in low voice jokingly and ran his fingers through Damien's hair.

"We both know where you'd be if not doing this. Probably on this couch, watching South Park, while I would be busy getting high," Brenks muttered and continued tapping with his fingers.  

"We're not very likeable, are we?" Aiden answered and tossed his head back, breathing out. He was to reach for his phone, but Damien protested, saying something about smelling the light from the screen. "Dude, I quit several years' smoking addiction, you can do this."

"I thought I had it under control, Aiden."

"Everyone thinks so."

They laid in silence for several minutes and Aiden's eyes have got used to the darkness, so he could distinguish some shapes better. He looked down at Damien, his gaze following the sharp contures of his jaw, brow and nose. He knew every single wrinkle and edge of this face and he caught himself smiling in the dark. At once he frowned. That's not an expected reaction to a fuck-buddy laying on one's knees and shaking because of drug quitting. A shiver of fear travelled up his spine. Sure, he admitted that he had a crush on Damien, but it was supposed to be just desire. He couldn't just let it develop into something bigger, something... serious. That wasn't the point at all, when he has commited to this.

"You're not that unlikable though, I mean, I like you," Damien said after a while quietly and took a sip from the glass.

That's it. Aiden felt how his heart started beating faster, not in the turned-on way, but more in a way that a heart of an ugly teenager who saw his crush walk through a corridor would speed up. He cursed internally and tried to lead himself off the thoughts he got. Damien was for sex. Damien was his working partner. Damien wasn't a boyfriend.

Since the last guy he has been with, he promised himself to not get involved in relationships. But when he thought about it, he and Brenks were like a couple, spending days together, living together, working together and making out. Mostly making out. They were a couple in all the ways but one; none of them wanted to admit it.

"I feel sick," Damien muttered and covered his face with his hand. "Like not puke-sick, sick in general."

"You _are_ sick," Aiden answered and made a small move showing him that he wants to stand up, but Brenks wouldn't let him.

"Don't go, kiddo. I won't do this alone, then I'll go get Martin."

"Oh, so he was your _dealer_ too?" Pearce snorted, but stayed on the couch

"He _is_ my dealer. I should probably tell him that I'm done with this." When Aiden didn't answer, Brenks opened his eyes and looked up to him. "Hey, may I ask you something?"

Aiden frowned, not sure what he should be expecting. He nodded slowly and Damien shut his eyes again.

"Why do you seem to hate relationships?" he asked simply and Aiden tensed.

It had to come to this some day. He felt like this day shouldn't have come so early though.

"It's... complicated," he started, but when Damien didn't say anything more, he still felt obligated to explain. "I was with this guy. Long-term relationship, you know. I only ever told my mom, Nicole and dad weren't supposed to know. It started back in highschool, when I was sixteen and until like... three years ago." Brenks commented that with a whistle, he was clearly impressed. Aiden would be too, if he didn't regret the last four years with that man. "He was my bottom, my first. A hot one. Two years older, just moved to Belfast from Dublin. He was the one who got me into the tattooing business, he told me how amazing my talent was and all shit like that. Well, he made good money on me, before I realised how much he was using me."

He was quiet for a moment and Damien looked up to him again.

"That's the story? Some guy used your talent for business? It could've been worse, you know," he said with a chuckle, but Aiden just shook his head.

"It's only the begginning. After we've been together for like six months, I, stupid rebellious teenager, Aiden Pearce, let this guy tattoo me. Guess which one it was."

"No idea, the tribal on the back of your neck?"

"No, it was too big. I had to hide it away from my parents. The one on my right bicep. I didn't understand then, but he marked me, you know. He inked the word 'average' into my skin, and I thought it was really rad back then, but I didn't get that he did it because I was indeed, though all the sweet words, just  _average_ to him. He told me when we had this big fight in the end."

"Ouch."

"Yeah, ouch." Aiden sighed and ran his fingers through Damien's hair unawarely. "Want me to continue?"

"Yeah. If you're alright with telling me, I mean."

"I'll go on then. Do I have to mention that we've been fucking like bunnies the whole time?"

"You don't need to make me more jealous. You can skip that part," Damien laughed quietly and moved Aiden's hand with his to put it on his collarbone. Pearce caressed him gently and started talking again.

"I was a kid, Damien. I thought this tattooed older guy was oh-my-gosh-so-cool, and I was following him like a lost puppy. He seemed perfect in the beginning, but when we've been together for two years, I got to know that he was sleeping around like a slut, but I didn't say anything. I hoped he would change, after all he was my dear boyfriend. I stayed, I worked with him, I dropped out of school and decided to go full-time at the studio. Once again, my mom was the only one who knew. My sister wasn't the brightest little girl and my father was probably too busy getting drunk to even notice that anything has changed."

"When I was twenty, I've started noticing something was wrong. He stopped taking care of me the way he did before and he, you know... He wasn't sober all the time. I was staring to think I should go, but he was my partner, both in the business way and in the relationship way. I guess I wasn't ready to try to find someone else, I thought I'd never find anyone as amazing as him, so I lived through the harsh times when we got into some serious fights. By that I mean fights. With fists and everything. I wasn't the biggest guy back then, so I was usually the one losing with a black eye and once or twice some broken ribs. I didn't leave though, and he barely remembered anything the next morning."

He made another pause and Damien didn't make any witty comments this time.

"One night I walked in on him getting fucked by some dude that I was inking earlier that day. Damien, I was bloody furious. I didn't come to work the next day and he walked over to my house, though my dad was home at that time and begged me to come back, on his knees. He told me how amazing I was. He told me how it was a mistake and he would never to that again. And being the moron I was, I believed. He was better at hiding his lovers though than you, Damien, and it took me some time before I decided to leave him, as I saw him again riding some random dude on our bed."

"Holy shit, no wonder you have trust issues, Pearce," Brenks muttered and relaxed his muscles more, when Aiden's fingers started playing with the piercing on his collarbone.

"We've had this big fight in the end. He told me how worthless I am and how no one else but him would ever want me. I kinda punched him in the face then, too bad he hit me back and... yeah. That was the worst I've ever gotten hurt in a fight, Damien. And trust me, I was fighting a lot when I was younger. As I said before, he told me about the tattoo, about how I was one of a number of people and how much of a good boy I was, working for him. He... this sounds so silly doesn't it? But this hurt as fuck, almost more than the thing my dad said sometimes. Hell, I can't believe I'm telling you this, I haven't really told anyone yet," he added after a while quietly. "Anyway, you have no idea how free I felt, when I finally left. It was like two years before mom died and we moved to the States, and... I'm sorry that I'm pushing you away like that, it's just... It's too similar to what happened before. You have no idea how that ruined me mentally, it's possible that that man totally fucked up my life," Aiden murmured and stiffened, when he felt a tear run down his cheek. He hurried to dry it off, but when Damien kissed his palm softly he felt another sob escape him and in a few seconds he covered his mouth and tried to strangle the weeping.

"Fuck, sorry, I..." he murmured and looked away from Brenks who was caressing his hand. " _You_ were supposed to be the suffering one."

"And yet here we are," Damien murmured quietly.

"Yeah, the drug addict and the crying mental mess," Aiden laughed through his tears and breathed in more loudly through his mouth, trying to stop himself from sobbing harder.

Damien lift his hand faintly and dried away one of his tears with his thumb, brushing against the stubble on Pearce's cheek and chin.

"Aiden, I know it's a little early, especially in those circumstances, but..." he made a small pause, almost as if he was waiting for an interruption from the other man, but it never came. He just looked down at him, and he couldn't recognise his face's expression in the darkness. "Would you like to be _my_ crying mental mess?"

Aiden didn't answer at first, he has just managed to control the sobs. And then his brain understood what Damien just proposed and he tensed. This was all happening too fast. Well, actually it wasn't fast at all. He knew Brenks for several months now, well, he was very... intimate with him for the latest ones. But the commitment part? The jealousy? He smirked in realisation.

It has already been there for quite some time.

The weak part of him won that time, because though everything, he felt happy. He was happy with this odd, intimidating, tattooed man laying upon him and wriggling slightly in order to solve that awkward silence that fell after his question.

Damien shut his eyes, but didn't say anything. He gave Aiden a moment to think about this whole thing. About how he might be doing something really wrong right now, something that he has promised himself to never do again and he was pretty good at it. Until he met this jerk with several addictions, divorced wife and a way too big amount of drugs that Pearce recently pulled out from underneath their sink. He stroked Brenks' chest slowly and leaned down to kiss his lips softly, making Damien flinch in surprise, but then lift up his body a little to a more comfortable position to return the gentle kiss, that he was longing for.

Slowly but surely, while Damien's shaky hands stroked his sides and pulled him closer, Aiden stopped denying to himself that he was falling for him.

And surprisingly, it didn't feel so bad after all.


	6. [You_Love_Me?]

They were both so sore in the morning. Aiden was used to sleeping on the couch, but it was way different when he slept in a half-sitting position while the rest of it was occupied by Damien, who said that he ' _didn't feel like getting up, but you're not leaving either, kiddo_ '. Their clothes were all creased and they both looked awful, especially Damien, who hasn't slept that much at all, though he tried. His eyes were surrounded by dark shadows and when Pearce asked him how he was feeling, he just groaned faintly and covered his face with the blanket.

"Dude, I've slept four hours since Wendesday. I might just die, don't be surprised," he mumbled, but let Aiden pull down the blanket again and put his hand upon his forehead.

"At least your fever is going down. That's good."

"Hey, can we order pizza? I think I'm really into pizza right now," Damien sighed and shut his eyes.

"Well, then you'll have to let me get up."

"Alright, I'm not that hungry."

Aiden snorted and caressed his head slowly. Damien purred with a smirk, making him laugh again.

"Don't you turn into some pet now, I'm allergic to cats."

"How about dogs? We should get a dog," Brenks murmured and stretched up his hand to touch Aiden's cheek, looking at him with a wider smile.

"You look awful," Pearce said, not answering him.

"Well, thank you, how nice of you. Jerk," Damien muttered and sighed. "But truth is, I should probably get my shit together and get up."

"Could be good for you. I need you downstairs by Monday, working two shifts last week was hell."

"Good thing I can't do most of your work. Otherwise the flu season would leave me hospitalised. You're like a customer magnet, Aiden," Damien chuckled and pulled his head lower to almost touch Aiden's lips with his. "Maybe they have a thing for Irish guys. Like I do," he said softly before kissing him shortly.

"This thing turned out way better than I expected," Pearce mumbled after a while of just holding Damien close. "But compliments won't make me change my mind. Get your ass up," he said suddenly and stretched his back to stand up and push Damien off of his knees.

His head fell on the couch and he grunted annoyed. He looked up to Aiden with with a bitter expression and whined again, before he actually tried to sit up himself.

"Jeez, it feels like I spend my entire life on this damn couch," he said with again yawn and rubbed his eyes. "My head hurts."

"Should I get you anything?" Aiden asked opening the wardrobe in which he kept his clothes. "Also, how do you feel besides that?"

"Well," Damien breathed when he got up clumsily, "besides shaking and feeling really hungry for my babies? Better than yesterday. And definitely better than Wednesday."

Pearce snorted. Wendesday was indeed the worst day. Besides vomiting and cursing at Aiden for keeping his goodies away from him, Damien didn't really do much. All Thursday he was shifting between whining at everything and laying on the floor and crying. Then when he got in better shape on Friday morning, he laid on Aiden's knees and asked him to forgive him for the things he said earlier. But Pearce didn't even mind, as he more than once screamed worse things at Brenks in different occasions, of which at least twice, when Brenks was fixing one of his piercings and once when he was filling in the ink on his neck tattoo. Both actions involved needles, which Aiden still despised.

He thought about how the artist who inked the fox on his back must've hated him after the first twenty minutes, as he was shaking and cursing under his breath the entire damn time. Damien sure had way more patience and he was surely calmer.

"I'll go shower now, can you order pizza? You know which ones,"  Damien said and stretched out his arms, heading for the bathroom.

"Just try to not pass out, like last time," Pearce chuckled and pulled his shirt off. "Tell me if you're feeling like dying."

"Jeez, Aiden, you care too much. And I didn't pass out, I just..." Damien said glancing at Aiden grumpily.

"...passed out. Crackhead," Pearce mocked him and buttoned the shirt he put on, rolling up his sleeves.

"Oh shut up. That was once," Brenks muttered and came up to him to hug him from behind. "I love you, asshole. "

Aiden smiled faintly and caressed his arms wrapped around him.

"You stink," he laughed and turned around to face him and hug him closer. "Go shower, we'll talk about this later."

"There's nothing to talk about. I love you," Damien said with a smile and kissed his forehead. "God, it feels good to say that. Also, I don't stink that much."

"You do. Just go shower," Aiden murmured, feeling a blush lighten up his pale cheeks.

Damien sighed and let go of him to walk towards the bathroom.

"...my boyfriend," Pearce added with with a smirk, when Brenks has almost shut the door.

His lips widened in a smile before he entered the bathroom and glanced at Aiden's satisfied face.

 

Few minutes have passed by and Pearce uncovered the windows and changed the rest of his clothes, when he heard his phone vibrate on the table. He answered while arranging the pillows and blanket.

"You know you're just in the bathroom? You could shout," he muttered and finished fixing the couch, leaning against it.

"My throat hurts. Just come over here," Damien answered and sighed.

Pearce ended the call and walked to the bathroom to see Damien's bare upper body leaning out from behind the shower curtain.

"What do you want?" Aiden asked crossing his arms upon his chest.

Damien smiled innocently.

"Come in here with me."

Aiden snorted looking at Brenks' soaked hair and foam on his shoulders. The water was streaming weakly behind him and Aiden was pretty sure he didn't doubt that Pearce would accept his offer. And Aiden didn't disappoint him. In a matter of seconds his fresh clothes were on the floor and he himself was behind the curtain, right in the stream of water.

Brenks hugged him close and kissed him softly as Aiden's hands pressed on his hips. Damien's fingers got tangled in his hair as he pulled his face closer to make the kiss deeper.

"This was a great idea," Aiden breathed as Damien pushed him against the wall caressing his upper body slightly. "I'm getting really close to letting you."

"Yeah?" Brenks let out quietly and kissed his lover's forehead instead. "How close?"

"Very close," he said with a sigh and moved moved a little bit forward to meet up Damien's neck with his lips. "Maybe I can use that as a reward for you being off the hard stuff for a longer while. Is it motivating enough?" he murmured as his hands travelled all over Damien’s back as he leaned down to nibble on Aiden's ear carefully.

"Enough for me. Aiden, did you bring your phone into the cabin or are you just happy to see me?" Damien chuckled and let his lips go lower to slowly kiss his neck.

"I care too much about my phone. You know that," Pearce said playfully and clenched on Damien's naked ass. "How about we wash and bring the party over to your bedroom?"

"Even though I'm tired as hell, I really can't say no," Damien answered breathily and kissed Aiden on the lips again. "Do you love me, Aiden?"

Pearce stiffened shortly but then just caressed him nonchalantly and smiled before kissing him again, longer this time. He grabbed Damien by his shoulders and turned them, so that he would be the one pressing him against the wall, chest to chest. Brenks' hands were still wrapped around his neck and head, making it easier for him to control the kiss. Aiden's hips were grinding against Damien slowly, making him let out a quiet groan into his mouth. His hands travelled way lower, but finally he pushed Pearce away gently, looking him in the eyes.

"Of course I love you, moron," Aiden murmured, when he saw the worried look on Damien's face. "It just feels odd. Having someone, I mean."

"I'm sure we can handle that. Now give me that shampoo, we need to get out of here," Brenks murmured when he got lit up by a smile. "You didn't order the pizza, did you?"

"No."

"Good, that gives us more time."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I know this is really short. And really fluffy. I have a big thing going on, just wait for it ;)
> 
> I hope y'all had an amazing Christmas, the ones who celebrate it.
> 
> Thank you for all the comments, I so LOVE comments! It's amazing to know that someone actually likes and aprecciates my work, thank you for the support.


	7. [Nickelback]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys. This is so fluffy.  
> But also, this is some explict shit, even if it's fluffy. Just a warning, this chapter is almost smut alone.  
> I really loved writing this, it must be my favourite smut I've ever written. I hope you'll enjoy reading it at least half as much as I did enjoy writing it.
> 
> Have fun and remember to leave kudos/comments, I love these and they are really motivational!
> 
>  
> 
> Oh, and also, the title doesn't really have anything to do with the chapter.

And though it felt odd to Aiden, he aprecciated the way Damien has made taking care of him his goal. In his own jealous and rough way he was trying to make sure that Pearce knew he really cared. Usually Aiden would get annoyed at how Damien was controlling everything around him, but strangely, it just felt very domestic and good. Pearce found himself hoping that he wouldn't ever stop, even if those thoughts made him feel like a naive teenager. But of course, he had enough experience to know better. He still hoped.

Damien was doing good without heroin, but the first weeks were particularly difficult and Aiden had to still do most of his work, as sometimes Brenks could get a minor anxiety attack when working and his partner had to take over as Damien was stowing away in their apartment.

"Damien, maybe you should get some help though?" Aiden asked him one evening, when he was sitting on their bed as Damien lied face down on the floor beneath it, breathing heavily.

"I'll get over it. You know it's not that bad, I just have these... phazes," Damien muttered and crept up to the bedside table. He opened the drawer and grabbed a small plastic bag filled with dried weed. "Is my lighter on the bed?" he asked and picked up the roll with paper.

"You said you'd limit smoking to two times a week for now," Aiden reminded him but passed him the lighter anyway, looking down at him from behind his book.

"But I'm so low now, I seriously feel awful," Damien excused himself quietly and started rolling the joint skillfully. "It'll be a weak one. I promise."

Pearce sighed and looked down on the text again.

"Roll me one too."

"Alright," Brenks said with a smirk, not looking away from his work.

After a few minutes he handed him the finished joint and the lighter, after he lit his own. He laid flat on the floor again and drew in the smoke, holding it in his lungs for quite some time before he tilted his face up to Aiden, who struggled with lighting his weed.

"I think I need an assistant until you've recovered, dude. I can't work your job AND keep an eye on the finances. How about we get someone and I'll work with  them and you do just the economics until you get better?" Pearce finally said, putting away the book and finally litting his joint, shutting his eyes. "Also, get up here."

"As you wish," Damien chuckled and put away his stuff back into the drawer before he got up on the bed and laid next to Aiden, taking the ashtray from their bedside table to put it upon his chest. "Well, that sounds like a plan to me. Can we afford it, finance boy?" he murmured and put his arm around Pearce's shoulders.

Aiden laughed and rested his head against him with a sigh.

"We can afford fairly good weed, so I'm pretty sure we can afford a new worker. As long as he doesn't smoke with us too," he added and tapped his roll on the ashtray.

"It doesn't have to be a _he_. I don't want a _he_ , I'll be jealous," Damien said in low voice and let out smoke of his mouth before he ground his forehead against Aiden's ear and kissed his cheek. "I love you, you know that?"

"Well, you've been quite certain about that lately," Aiden chuckled. "But calm down a little, it's not like another guy in our studio will ruin us."

"You never know," Damien said and hugged him closer, caressing his shoulder.

"I must say that I might be a little better than you at keeping it in my pants." Aiden smirked and grabbed his joint with his fingers to be able to kiss Damien's lips softly. Brenks tangled his fingers in his hair and responded to the kiss a little bit more intensively before they parted again.

"You don't think I could cheat on you, do you?" he asked with a frown and inhaled more smoke, blowing it out up in the air to not blow on Aiden's face.

"Of course I don't. But you know I have trust issues, sorry if I might be overreacting a little," Aidan said quietly and put the joint in his mouth again, turning his face up to the ceiling again. "I'm sorry, I'm awful."

"Stop being sorry for everything, you didn't do anything," Damien sighed.

They continued smoking in silence. Damien's fingers stroked Aiden's shoulder and collarbone. Slowly Aiden leaned in closer to Brenks and sighed loudly. His pupils got wider and he finally had to close his eyes to not get irritated by the light. He was still too lazy to get up and turn off the light so he just stayed, smelling the smoke and the smell of Damien's cologne and him in general.

It was so calming, when he held him this close. Sometimes, when they got high like this, they would just lie on the bed, couch, floor or actually quite wherever and tell each other stories. It became kind of a ritual for solving stress, even before, when their relationship was purely platonic, when Aiden has just moved in. It was even better now, even though they were just lying in silence.

"I think I need another one," Damien murmured, when he put away the finished blunt on the ashtray on Aiden's chest. "You want more?"

"No, I'm done smoking for today," Pearce said and drew in the smoke for the last time, before he joined Brenks' stump with his.

Damien reached to the drawer again and Aiden almost missed the moment when he was rolling another joint, as he felt like almost falling asleep. But at the same time he was slightly hungry. And slowly but firmly he decided that the other feeling bothering him was growing arousal, as Damien was petting his neck lightly.

Brenks reached for his lighter and lit his second blunt, breathing in slowly. He chuckled and steadied his head upon the pillow, as Aiden made himself more comfortable leaning against his chest. He coughed, when Damien blew out the smoke in his face.

"Don't do that," he managed to let out finally with a difficulty and sat up carefully, grabbing the ashtray and putting it on the bedside table. "I'm absolutely into smoking indoors, but just don't do that."

"Come on, feel the mood," Brenks said slowly with a smirk and shut his eyes. "I love nights like this," he said running his fingers through Aiden's hair and inhaling more smoke.

Pearce turned his head slightly to look up to him and after a second thought, he reached for the blunt taking it from Damien's fingers and putting it in his own mouth. Brenks opened his eyes slowly, his pupil irritated by the light from the lamp.

"You said you don't smoke anymore?" he asked playfully, when Aiden breathed in and held the smoke in his lungs for some time, before he let it out through his nose.

"I might've changed my mind," he murmured and tapped off the ash to the ashtray beside him. He relaxed his shoulders and sighed, putting more weight upon Damien's body.

"You suck," he mumbled to Aiden and his eyelids felt heavy again. "Hey... wanna fuck?"

"You could be at least a little bit more subtle sometimes, Damien. Just once," Aiden said sucking in the smoke and returning the weed back to his partner.

"I'm not subtle, kiddo," he murmured in answer and slid his hand along Aiden's neck and shoulder to slowly let it glid underneath his t-shirt through his collar.

"That's a really awkward way to do it, you know," Pearce chuckled, when Damien's forearm covered his face, as he was trying to reach down to his chest.

"Shut up, I know what I'm doing," Brenks answered fuzzily, and inhaled the smoke one last time before he put it away on the ashtray on the bedside table. He moved away his hand and bend down slowly to kiss Aiden, breathing out the smoke into his mouth.

Aiden snickered and drew in his air before they parted. He turned around to pull himself on top of Damien and kiss him again, slower this time.

"Me likey," Brenks laughed, when Aiden moved his face away from his again.

"Sweet Jesus, you're high as fuck," Pearce chuckled and laid limply with legs astride his hips.

"My name's Damien, not Jesus," he said seriously and reached to Aiden to pull his t-shirt off clumsily.

Pearce snorted with laughter and helped him throw his t-shirt on the floor. He put his arms around Damien's neck, and rested upon his body loosely, as Brenks caressed his back lazily.

"I hope this'll be a better experience than drunk sex," Aiden murmured.

Damien smirked slightly, when Aiden put his head upon his shoulder with a sigh.

"So you aren't saying 'no'?" he asked and slid in two of his fingers beneath Pearce's jeans, resting his thumb on his spine.

"I'm not,"  he breathed against his jaw in answer and scratched his skin with his stubble. Damien breathed out slowly, feeling so relaxed and comfortable with Aiden's warmth on him, that he almost forgot what he planned to do and he just lied there, not moving for a minute or so.

"Are you awake?" Pearce asked him suspiciously and tilted up his head. "I just told you that I want you to fuck me, no reaction?"

Brenks blinked several times and looked down on Aiden. His pupils were as wide as his own, but he saw that Pearce wasn't as stoned as himself.

"I just... wow," he chuckled faintly and stiffened shortly, when Aiden's hand travelled down to his groin.

"Am I boring you, Damien?" he asked frowning as Brenks' fingers crossed his hip and ran down to Aiden's zipper nonchalantly.

"What? Of course not," he muttered fuzzily and sat up with Pearce's legs wrapped around him. "I'm just comfy, not bored," he whispered directly into his ear, biting it lightly and running his tongue over Aiden's stretcher.

The younger man hugged him closer and touched his back fondly as Damien tilted his head to kiss his lips carefully. He could recognise the taste of smoke on his tongue, and in that moment he felt incredibly aroused by it. His fingers travelled to Damien's shirt's buttons to undo them, while Brenks' hands unzipped his pants and slid behind both layers of his clothing, stroking Aiden's bare ass. Pearce's heart rate sped up, feeling the warmth of Damien's gentle touch.

"Could you just be careful? I'll back off if I don't like it," he murmured when the other man broke the kiss to suck on his earlobe.

"You will like it, of course you will," Damien breathed with a smirk and started pulling off Aiden's jeans slowly.   

"God, I'm so dizzy," Aiden mumbled and kicked off the trousers, throwing them carelessly on the floor.

"Good dizzy or bad dizzy?" Damien asked quietly, clenching on Aiden's naked thighs, laying him on the bed and bending over him, pushing Pearce's hips down into the mattress while kissing his chest.

"Amazing dizzy," Aiden gasped, when Damien's hand cupped his package through his trunks, as his mouth was getting lower down Aiden's stomach. He steadied himself upon his elbows to look down at Damien with a faint smile. Suddenly Brenks lift up his head with a frown, as if he suddenly remembered something awful.

"Something wrong?" the other man asked, as Damien looked as if he was thinking intensively.

"No it's just... Do you think that the black stripes between ladybugs' wings are like happy lines? But on their backs?" he blurted out and lift one of his eyebrows.

"Dude."

"What, it makes perfect..."

"Dude. Maybe. But just... go on, you're high as fuck and I'm just high so I don't think I can talk about this shit with you without it being weird."

"But..."

"Damien."

He wheezed, but obeyed, though his eyes were still showing how distracted he was by the ladybugs. Slowly he kissed Aiden's thigh and parted his legs more. A satisfied smile curved his lips, when he noticed that Pearce was getting all hard of his easy touch. He left a small hickey on his inner thigh, irritating Aiden's skin with his teeth and the cool metal of his snakebites. He flinched in answer and grunted quietly in an attempt to cover up the groan, that was waiting for the right moment to escape his lips. He thought he heard quiet buzzing somewhere inside of his mind every time Damien touched him in one of the tender areas of his skin. When Brenks finally freed his manhood from the underwear, Aiden threw his head back slowly and shut his eyes. Damien grabbed his cock and put the head of it in his mouth, without further ado, and made that small groan escape his partner's throat. The sounds and small moves he made, made Damien's jeans a little tight too, but he wouldn't hurry, as they were both perfectly relaxed and he needed to take his time with preparing Aiden.

"God, I could die like this," Pearce let out as Damien took him deeper and grabbed his wrists with his hands. He arched his back, when Brenks started moving his mouth slowly, just to tease him.

"High and with your dick in someone's mouth? Fair enough," the older man said, when he moved away from him after a while. "But no, there's so much more. Turn around."

Aiden hesitated but obeyed, though all his muscles tensed. He laid on his stomach and Damien spread his legs even more, caressing his ass with both his hands. He reached for lube standing on his bedside table and squeezed it out on his fingers.

"Damien," Aiden begun, turning his face to him "you will stop, if I tell you, right?"

"Probably. Do we need a safeword for this situation?" Damien asked making Aiden flinch and tense more, when he moved his slick finger down between his buttocks.

"Maybe. If stop ain't enough, I'll go with Nickelback," he muttered after a few seconds of getting used to the presence of Damien's hand.

Brenks snorted and slowly slid in his middle finger's tip into the other man's body.

"Should I ask why Nickelback?"

"It's just... when I hear Nickelback, I always think 'God, just stop'," Pearce said and tried to relax vainly, when Damien put his finger deeper inside him, while laughing quietly because of his safeword.

"Well, Nickelback it is. Are you alright?" he asked softly and lift his body to be able to reach Aiden's shoulder with his other hand. He nodded shortly in silence, as his breath got a little uneven. "May I go on?"

"Yes. Just slowly," Pearce said and laid his forehead against the pillow.

Damien slid his finger all the way into Aiden, and added the second one, more shallowly. Pearce moved fretfully, but Damien's hand caressed his back soothingly, making him relax his muscles a little. It was still way easier, when he was in the influence of weed, but as Aiden's pain tolerance was really low, Damien knew that his moves had to be careful to not daunt him. Aiden both felt very conscious of his body and didn't feel like having it at all. He was getting used to that weird stimulation and after a while Damien got both of his fingers inside of him, loosing up his entrance, and feeling as Pearce started grinding his ass against him carefully.

"Enjoying yourself?" Brenks laughed and kissed his back lightly, when he heard his partner sigh.

"It's alright, I guess. For now. It's not Nickleback, but it's not Smashing Pumpkins either. Something between Flatfoot 56 and The Beatles," he murmured, but stiffened, when Damien tried to join his fingers with another one. "Don't. Go on with doing what you did before."

"Alright," Damien purred at his protests, and started going faster with the two fingers instead. He stretched out his middle finger and tried to locate Aiden's point of pleasure.

"Fuck," Pearce cried out, when he finally brushed over his prostate. He rocked his hips back on Damien's fingers to feel the great sensation again. Brenks adjusted his pressure and continued massaging him for a longer while, until Aiden grunted again, much louder this time.

"Good?" the older man asked, and put the third finger inside of him, this time not getting as big resistance. He went on with the movements, trying to not bring Aiden too much pleasure. He couldn't come before they even begun.

"This is weird as fuck, but I like it," Aiden breathed in answer. His lover pulled out the fingers of him and gestured him to turn around again, as he reached to the bedside table for a condom. Pearce sat astride Damien's hips and unzipped his pants to pull them off, as Damien put the package on the bed beside himself and pulled off his shirt, which got unbuttoned by Aiden earlier. The younger man's hands shook slightly, as he picked up the condom and tore the annoying plastic with his teeth.

"Are you sure that was enough?" he muttered with a worried frown, when Damien's hands stroked his thighs and ass slowly and his own hands freed Damien's erection from his underwear.

"You'll know if it was enough or not," he said softly with a smirk as he looked at Aiden's face and then body with something similar to pride in his eyes. "Jesus, I can't believe I have a man like you, Aiden."

He chuckled in answer and rolled the condom onto Damien's cock with his shaky fingers, as Damien caressed his face with his thumb.

"Am I your man now?" Pearce asked and smiled, lifting up his hips slowly and rested his hands upon the other man's shoulders. He lowered himself onto Damien carefully, letting him slide into him.   

"Of course you're mine. Only mine," he heard Damien whisper, as he felt how he filled him up.

Aiden shut his eyes and tried to loosen up even more, preparing for sharp pain, but it never came. Of course, it hurt a little, when he took him entirely into his body, but it wasn't as painful as he has imagined it to be, probably because of Damien's careful preparation. Brenks must've seen the confusion on his face, because he laughed shortly and pulled his face closer by the back of his neck.

"See? Told you," he whispered before kissing his lips and waiting for him to move, when he felt ready. "I'm not going to tell you how good you feel, because you know how hot I am right now," he added, when Pearce made a few unexperienced moves upon him.

"I shouldn't be on top, sorry I'm not very good at this," he let out faintly with a concentrated expression on his face.

"Take your time. Try it." Damien smiled and stroked his naked sides and chest carefully, as Aiden went on slowly, grunting every time he lowered himself deeper than before; He planted another kiss on his lover's chin and lips, and then another one and another, finally finding his rhythm. Damien felt how trembling Pearce's body and legs were, but he was slowly but surely getting calmer, as he started to enjoy it more.

They wouldn't say anything. Damien was giving him all the time in the world to get used to the new feeling, while their lips and hands were everywhere they could reach. He could already predict, that Aiden will be loud, as he gave away quiet muffled groans already in the very beginning. Brenks noticed that he didn't like being noisy though, trying to mute himself, as if he was ashamed of it. Maybe he just wasn't comfortable enough in this situation and showing Damien the most vulnerable part of himself, but it wouldn't take long. He felt way to drugged to handle all the sounds and moves of his body and soon, he would let out clear sighs and groans, that were setting everything inside Damien on fire. He couldn't and wouldn't try to control himself anymore, when he saw that Aiden wasn't in pain. With a swift move he sat up and then pushed Pearce down on the mattress, to be the one in control.

"You really don't have to hold back, kiddo. I'm alright with you being loud," he assured Aiden in low voice and bend down to nibble on the skin of his neck, while thrusting into him, slightly slower than the pace Aiden held. His hands found Pearce's wrists and held them steady in place. "When was the last time you actually had sex with someone, Aiden?" he asked him, while trying to get a better angle to hit the place, where his lover would feel him the most.

He opened his mouth to answer, but just when a simple 'I' was to come out, it was replaced by a loud shaky groan, as Damien hit just right. He grinned and put more pressure in the next thrust, getting a similar reaction. Aiden was bleating underneath him and it was the most glorious thing Damien has ever seen; breaking the man he thought was unable to look so rapturous and addicted to his touch.

Damien brushed against his prostate gently in the same angle, just to be sure it was right, and then pressed as hard as he could on the next thrust. Aiden cried out, or rather screamed, and arched his back, unable to lift his arms because of Damien's grip on them.

"I hope Mrs and Mr Jordan went for that vacation they planned," Damien chuckled, refferring to their neighbours. "Fuck, Aiden. You have no idea what seeing you like this does to me," he murmured and continued going in the same angle, but way more gently and in a teasing slow pace, to not make him come just yet. "So, how long has it been?"

Brenks hand travelled slowly down his chest and he gripped Aiden's cock lightly with his fingers, caressing it delicately. He was pretty sure that he might just get Aiden to pass out from the overstimulation, but he wasn't bothered by that thought, as he was way to busy enjoying Pearce's whimpers and the needy rocking of his hips.

"A year, maybe? But I was the top then," he muttered and screamed again, when Damien hit his prostate once more with much more force. "Oh God, Damien! Oh holy fucking God..."

"A year? How are you still alive, kiddo?" Damien murmured with a chuckle, ignoring his pleading, and made his grip on Pearce's cock more firm. His strokes were still not giving Aiden enough stimulation to come, yet enough to make him look like a desperate mess under his partner's body which was hovering over him.

The younger man put his hand on Damien's shoulder and clenched his fingers on his skin, almost painfully. Brenks leaned down and kissed him on his lips, letting his tongue explore his palate. After a few seconds, he moved away slightly and sucked on his bottom lip. Pearce was breathing heavily and trembling, trying to get Damien to move faster, but he knew he wouldn't succed.

"Damien, go harder, I'll die here," he groaned, when Brenks' hips ground slowly against him, getting himself deeper inside Aiden, but not faster, as he was skillfully avoiding places that could bring him over the edge.

"I assure you that you won't, even if I stop. Do you want me to stop?" Damien teased him and stroked his cock a little bit faster. Pearce was trying to get as much motion as he could, but his partner held him down firmly.

"No, just go on. Faster," he finally managed to get out of his mouth. He felt as if he might melt if Damien would slow down even more. As if he would break into pieces.

Yet he didn't, even when Damien stopped entirely. He let out a disapproving moan, and tried to push back against his body, but it wasn't the same when he wasn't really the one in control, and when he couldn't find the spot that would bring him the wanted alleviation.

"What do you think you're doing, Brenks? he wheezed and tried to pull Damien closer to himself with that one hand upon his shoulder. He didn't know what he needed to solve the pleasure he hoarded, but the touch of his lover's naked body upon his sounded like the best idea in the world.

It was a feeling hard to explain. Every single one of his cells felt relaxed but tense at the same time, shivering, pulsing. Damien's hands were shaking, as he was clearly in a state very similar to Aiden's experience. He was calmer though, more patient, knowing that the faster he went on, the closer the end of this was. Aiden on the other hand was eager to feel more, feel harder, just to get his release.

"Remember, when I wanted you to beg the first night?" Damien said softly and licked his ear. A shudder travelled through Aiden's body.

"You want me to beg?" he snorted, as Damien started to move his hips slowly again, just to torture him. "I won't do that."

"You are already doing it, by wriggling beneath me, Aiden," he chuckled. "I just want to hear a full sentence. That's not much."

Aiden pouted unwittingly and groaned again, when Damien licked and kissed his neck, clearly waiting for an answer, before he would continue.

"Jeez, you really have issues," he muttered, but gave up. "Just keep fucking me, Damien," he groaned finally feeling as if he couldn't deal with the unresolved pleasure. He needed more, or he needed less, he couldn't go on like this.

"I want to hear more," Brenks purred. His pleasure and arousal grew beyond the measure with every steamy word that left Aiden's lips.

"For fucks sake Damien, please, please keep fucking me," Aiden finally said, looking away from Damien, his face getting even more flushed than it already was.

"Now we're talking."

Damien begun to move again. The bedhead hit against the wall with every thrust of his that shook the entire bed and for one split second he wondered again if their neighbours really weren't home. He kissed his lover's lips shortly, before he moved away again to hear the loud cries he was sure would be audible in a matter of seconds. It was hard for him to concentrate, as he felt waves of tremendously intense pleasure well up inside of him, but he got the right angle to hit Aiden's prostate again and heard the scream of pleasure fill up the room, as Pearce tossed his head back and felt high in a way that no amount of weed could make even. Brenks' strokes on his cock and the unearthly sensation of him hitting all the right places surpassed his greatest expectations and with the loudest scream his dry throat could manage, his vision getting blurry and a dangerous sensation really close to passing out, he felt an orgasm he cold only rate as the most intense one in his life.

He almost didn't hear Damien's loud growl or feel his shivering, when his climax arrived a heartbeat after his own. Aiden was way too busy trying to remember how to breathe and how to calm his legs' twitching. His skin felt like burning. His entire body felt like burning, as he felt every single piece of skin and every nerve that wasn't used to feel, being awoken by weed and stimulation like this.

They were a shivering and gasping mess of limbs for a longer while, numbed by the intensity of their act. Damien pulled himself out of Aiden, but didn't feel strong enough to lift himself up, so he just laid upon his chest, breathing unevenly and hearing Aiden's frantical attempts to calm down his own breath.

"Oh fuck," he muttered after a while, staring at the ceiling. Damien couldn't speak. The mix of past-orgasm relaxation and the effect of their shared blunt made all his bones and muscles feel like jelly. Aiden didn't even try to move, still fighting for breath.  "Oh holy fucking shit," he added shutting his eyes and inhaling deeply. "That's it, NOW I can die."

Brenks chuckled and finally after a minute or so, he sat up to throw the condom down into the bin next to the bed. He was reaching for the towel on a chair further away, but didn't get far when Aiden wrapped his arms around his waist and pulled him down over himself again. Damien just fell limply on his chest and laughed when Pearce moved him closer by grabbing his ass and lifting him up a little, so he would lay between his legs again.

Aiden's hands stroked Damien's back tenderly and he didn't even mind the stickiness between their naked bodies.

"I changed my mind," he said after a while. "You need to get up to turn off the light anyway."

Damien grunted and picked up one of the pillows which he threw at the lightswitch on the wall across from them. Of course he missed, and the pillow flew out through the door. He grabbed one of the two remaining ones and tossed it again, this time actually hitting the switch. Aiden whistled, when Damien made a short "whoo!" sound and relaxed upon his chest again, when the room got dark.

"Dude, I can't believe you hit that."

"That's what I thought like five minutes ago," Damien joked and they both started chuckling uncontrollably.

"I'm exhausted," Aiden muttered after a while and Brenks just gave him a long, bitter look, making him burst out again. "Alright, I get it. You'll probably be sore in your entire body tomorrow. But I'm still tired."

"Goodnight, then," he answered with a smirk and hugged him closer, feeling Pearce's soft caresses on his back.

When he almost fell asleep, Damien started laughing again. Aiden flinched, broken out from his doze and glanced at him questioningly. At that point Damien was already laughing so hard, he couldn't breathe. He just pointed faintly at Aiden's face and when he was already about to explain what was so funny, he burst out again with a loud laughter, that didn't seem to fit him.

"What?" Pearce finally  asked, starting to laugh himself, as he was still affected by the weed and Damien's laughter that was bringing him to tears.

"PIERCE. AIDEN PIERCE, AIDEN," Damien finally let out in explanation between another waves of shivers of laughter that were cruising through him. "YOU GET IT, BECAUSE..." he couldn't talk anymore, he just rested his head upon his chest. "BECAUSE PEARCE IS PIERCED!"

It took Aiden a while to get the stupid pun, but when he did, he started laughing just as much as Damien did, hugging his head closer to himself and making the bed shake almost as much as in the final parts of their earlier act.

"Jeez, Damien. You're so stupid."

"Well, you're stupider."

"There's no such word."

"Shut up. I love you."

"Moron."


	8. [Sleep]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really short, really fluffy.
> 
> Sorry for all this fluff, I was just kinda down lately, that's why I was cheering myself up with all the fluff. That's why I didn't update [Pay_To_Claim_The_Prize] too, I just didn't feel like writing plot or angst. Christmas is not my favourite season.
> 
> Well anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Aiden was the first to wake up the following morning. He felt that Damien's body was pressed up against him, as he was lying flat upon Pearce's chest. His face was somewhere between Aiden's neck and shoulder, breathing calmly against his ear. His arm was resting upon his other shoulder and his fingers were tangled in Aiden's hair, as if he was afraid that he might run away, while he was sleeping.

For some reason this felt more intimate than any of the things they've done. Just sleeping in that naked tangle of limbs and breathing each other's air between the sheets that were still damp after last night. Damien was muttering quietly in his sleep between some snores and Aiden just listened to him while caressing his back carefully.

Even though they agreed to have an actual relationship, Aiden still didn't sleep in this bed very often. For some reason it felt odd for him to wake up next to someone again, after such a long while. And Damien understood. He always understood. But when he decided to stay over instead of sneaking out back to the couch, it was always Damien who was up first. Pearce wondered if that's what he's been doing, when he has awoken and Aiden was still sleeping. He wondered if he thought about him like that, listening to his breaths. For a split second he thought about how he might look and feel like himself when he was sleeping, but then he realised he didn't care as long as Damien liked it. And he knew he did.

Brenks shifted his position on him with a sleepy grunt and went back to peacefully resting on him. Aiden thought he heard his name escape Damien's lips breathily and for a moment he thought that Brenks has woken up, but he just ground his face against his neck unconciously and got still again. Aiden's hand stroked Damien's side and back enjoying the feeling of his soft skin and hair on his back underneath his fingers. He inhaled slowly and shut his eyes again, happy that it was still so early, as their alarm clocks haven't started ringing yet. His chest rose and fell again and he put his other hand carefully upon Damien's head, running his fingers through his hair.

"I love you," Damien murmured sleepily, but Aiden saw that he still wasn't awake. He just snorted slightly and caressed his head, rubbing on the revealed piece of skin behind Damien's ear tenderly.

It was easing him so much, the fact that Damien actually cared to assure him about that even in his sleep. It wasn't difficult to sleep while lying, but it was surely difficult to lie while sleeping. 

He kissed Damien's forehead lightly a few times, just as if he wanted to make sure that he really was there. God, he was so in love, he didn't even realise before. He probably just needed a moment to think about it all, about how much through his denial he trusted this man with a ton of issues.

Suddenly Brenks started moving slightly and yawned with a frown, probably awoken by Aiden's moves.

"Morning, baby," he let out opening his eyes just a little and tilting up his face to Aiden's with a smile.

"Hi there," Pearce murmured and returned a smile before he leaned in to kiss his lips carefully. "Slept well?"

"With you? Always," Damien chuckled and kissed him again, caressing his cheek.

"You're adorable."

"That's a word you use to describe puppies, not grown men," Damien muttered and stroked his neck delicately. "How did you like last night?"

"Well, I could definitely get used to this. Though my ass hurts now, when I think about it," Pearce laughed. "And since when do you call me 'baby'?"

Damien lift his abdomen and steadied himself upon his elbows to tower over Aiden before he smirked and kissed him again, pulling his head closer with his fingers in his hair. Aiden caressed his back tenderly and then let his hands travel down his spine to stroke his ass.

Then Damien's alarm clock started to make that awful annoying noise that Aiden usually heard from the living room. 8.45 AM, their first client would be downstairs in thirty five minutes. Damien cursed quietly and sighed, before he kissed Aiden's neck shortly and sat up on the bed to turn off the alarm.

"Wendesday. Goddamnit," he muttered and rubbed his eyes. "I really need a shower."

"Same. Jeez, I should've let you clean us up yesterday," Aiden sighed rubbing off the dried mess off his stomach.

"Well... yes. But you actually liked yesterday, you aren't just saying that to please me, right?" Damien asked suddenly and Aiden noticed surprised that he was looking at him with a worried look. "I don't want you to do anything you don't want."

"Stupid," Pearce wheezed in answer and sat up next to him planting a small kiss on his lover's tattooed shoulder. "I'm pretty sure that you saw how much I liked it, don't worry,"he said before he got up and walked towards the bathroom.

Damien didn't say anything, he just followed him with his gaze and then decided to get up too.

 


	9. [Family_Reunions_and_Disappointment]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter is here. I'm very sorry, people who read [Pay_To_Claim_the_Prize] that I haven't been updating recently. I really didn't feel like writing canon angst, so I went on with the oneshots and my little baby, which you see right here.
> 
> I'm really not planning to abandon my fics, unless something horrible happens, I'll continue, though maybe with some longer pauses.
> 
> Thank you for all the kind feedback!
> 
> Enjoy!

Aiden was the first of them to walk downstairs. He unlocked the front door with a lazy movement and turned on the light wires wrapped around the bars on the walls right underneath the ceiling. He sat on the chair next to the desk and opened his laptop, following his usual morning routine. He picked up their calendar from the drawer and looked through the schedule. He snorted with short laughter, when he saw ' _ **I love you, Aiden**_ ' written in Damien's ugly style on today's page, next to the list of their clients. He turned his eyes on the name on 9.20 and he had to read it again. And again. But it was still the same.

_**9.20: Nicole Pearce - minor piercing, A** _

"Damien?" he shouted and sighed when he got no answer.  Damien probably fell asleep again. It wouldn't be the first time. "Damien Brenks!" he repeated louder and heard a faint groan from their apartment. "Did you put my sister on my plan and didn't fucking mention a word to me?"

"I might have," Damien answered sleepily from the top of the stairs and yawned while putting his beanie over his head. "She came here when you were upstairs already, yesterday. I thought this might bring you guys together a little."

Aiden glared at him angrily and breathed out slowly in attempt to calm down a little.

"Are you joking? She didn't even call me since she kicked me out, and now she's turning up out from nowhere and I'm to..."

"Come on, you need to talk to her someday. And well, she probably chose this place for a reason, right?" Damien said shrugging his arms and walking closer to take a look at the plan. "Oh no, not again.'

**_9.30: Stinky Dreaded Douchebag - three minor piercings, D_ **

"You're welcome," Aiden said grumpily and glanced at the clock. It was almost ten past eight, so he had at least ten minutes to prepare mentally for meeting his sister for the first time in a few months.

"Couldn't you have just rejected him?" Damien whined and crossed his arms upon his chest.

"Couldn't you have just rejected Nicky?" Aiden answered with a question and frowned at him, repeating his gesture. "I mean, we could switch."

"No, we can't," Damien said quickly and looked away. "If he'd put his fingers on you, I could accidentally rip his lungs out."

A corner of Aiden's mouth twitched as he tried to hold back a laugh, but eventually he started chuckling at Damien's tense face. Brenks looked at him bitterly at first, but then started laughing too.

"You might be overreacting a little, _baby_."

"I'm never overreacting, _baby_ ," Damien said sarcastically and leaned down to stop just barely an inch away from his lips. "I just care about you, you know."

He kissed him softly while caressing his cheek. Suddenly the front door opened and Aiden flinched, trying to push away Damien, who moved away slowly, not even trying to hide what he just did. Pearce blushed when he saw his sister walk in with shock on her face. He needed a lot of strength to not curse loudly, and Damien didn't really care. He smirked at Nicky daringly, stretching his back and resting against the desk, as if he just waited for her to say something about what she just saw. But she didn't. She just glanced at Aiden and muttered a quiet 'good morning'.

It was just 9.15.

The tension between them was quite noticable, but Aiden wouldn't lose his professionalism, the way he never did. He cleared his throat and gestured her to sit on one of the two leather chairs, as he stood up himself.

"What can I do for you," he asked chilly, making a shiver run down Nicky's back.

Damien sat behind the desk instead of Aiden and turned on their usual music playlist on his computer, without saying one word.

"Right nostril. Just a small one, not a ring like yours," she said quietly, looking away from her brother.

Aiden just nodded and walked over to the drawers to get the needed tools.

"Just a silver one? Or do you want one with a zircon?" he asked and pulled up a bag with different options.

"You can choose, Aiden," Nicole murmured and tapped on the armrest with her fingers. "Hey, listen, I wanted to talk."

"I'll go with the blue one," the man said acting as if he didn't hear her. He picked it up from the plastic bag and laid it on the small table next to the chair. He poured some desinfectant on a cotton pad and turned on the extra lamp to see what he was doing with Nicky's face.

"Listen, Aiden. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..." she begun, when he bent over her to clean the to-be piercing placement. "I'm awful, it was a mistake, I think you should come back," she blurted out.

Aiden stopped for a second, but then snorted and looked over to Damien. He didn't seem to care, he was doing the usual stuff, browsing throught the things on Aiden's laptop that he definitely shouldn't browse in a room with someone else. Aiden couldn't see the screen, but he saw Damien's smirk. Of course he was listening, but instead of focusing on the bitter action happening in front of him, he concentrated on searching through the internet for new porn.

Aiden sighed and looked back down at Nicky, just shaking his head.

"It's kinda late, sis," he murmured and grabbed a pen to mark the place for her new piercing, before he handed her the mirror. "Is here good?"

"Yeah. What do you mean late? You can always come back, right?" she said nervously blinking a few times. The piercer grabbed his gloves and put them on in silence. "Why, Aiden?"

Aiden leaned down the backrest of the chair to have Nicky laying down, following his usual procedure. He grabbed the needle and desinfected it slowly.

"I'm living upstairs now. With Damien," he said shortly, lifting the entire seat a little so he wouldn't need to bend down so much. "You wouldn't want your faggot brother to live with you again, would you? What if you'd," he started sarcastically while placing the needle at the right spot and leading it through her nose with one precise move. Nicole shut her eyes and let out a muffled sound, but didn't even move. Aiden knew that she wouldn't, after all he was the one to pierce her ears and navel. "What if you'd accidentally catch me with someone? Your eyes would bleed and pop out," he continued as he grabbed the actual piercing and put it in place carefully.

"Are you and him...?" Nicole let out, but hissed in pain, when Aiden cleaned the small wound.

"Yes. Any problem with that?" he wheezed and put away the needle on the table.

She just sighed and looked up to him. Aiden couldn't read what her blue-green eyes were expressing. Probably disappointment. He passed her the mirror and pulled off his gloves, as Nicky sat up on the chair again.

"It's thirty bucks, pay Damien," Aiden said with a forced smile and tossed the gloves on the table. "Have a nice day."

"Aiden... Why are you so..."

"Couldn't you at least call?" he finally burst, making her flinch. "One fucking message, one call. I don't bloody care if you hate me for this, I just wanted to make sure that you were alright. But you never. Fucking. Answered," he was almost shouting at this point. Damien has disappeared into their apartment, leaving them alone downstairs, as there were still a few minutes before T-Bone was supposed to show up.

"Aiden, sorry, I was just so..."

"DISAPPOINTED! I've heard that before," he growled and started to organise the tools again. "What, did you call daddy? Tell him about me sleeping with guys? Because why not, I mean, who the fuck cares about little Aiden anyway. Why did you come here? You could go to any other place," Aiden wheezed and turned his back on her.

"I told you that I want to talk to you, Jesus, you're so fucking stubborn, Aiden!" she almost cried out and stomped on the ground.

A childish gesture that she has never grown out of, as she always used it when she got upset. Aiden sighed loudly.

"Talk then." He turned around to face her with his arms crossed upon his chest. "Go on, I'm waiting. I have another client in a not-so-long while, so you better make it quick."

"I'm so sorry Aiden, I really missed you," Nicole said quietly, and he saw that tears were filling her eyes. "It was a mistake to kick you out, you're my brother and I love you, it doesn't matter if you... If you're into guys, okay?" she let out finally and her brother didn't look away from her for a longer while.

"You don't expect me to be alright with this, do you? It's been months, Nicky. I haven't slept at night, you didn't even call me on mom's death anniversary, when I knew you were in Belfast. Get the hell out of my studio, Nicky," he finished and fixed the peak of his cap automatically.

"But Aiden, I..."

"Just fuck off. I don't want to talk to you, if you want to ask any piercing questions, ask Damien."

Nicole got up from the chair slowly and picked up the payment for Aiden's service from her wallet, handing it over with a shaky hand.

"Just call me if you feel like it. This time I'll answer," she murmured, looking at her feet. "I just really wanted to talk to you about this, I thought you'd understand." Then she glanced at the stairs, when she saw that Brenks was on his way down again. "Aiden I have so many questions, just please, did you..."

"Yes, yes, I did have sex with your brother. Just get out, he's had enough." This time it was Damien, who interrupted her harshly and pointed at the door with his chin. "Have a nice day."

"Damien," Aiden hissed at him, when Nicky looked from him to Brenks again with her mouth open, before she just turned around and walked out, mumbling an unclear 'goodbye'. "Fuck, you just had to, right?"

Damien shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, that usually works. It worked, okay? She's seen us kissing anyway," he said and helped Aiden with putting away the rest of the things he used on Nicky.

"To see your brother kiss a guy and to know that your brother has been fucked by that guy are two different things, she didn't have to know."

"She would, sooner or later. Come on, you can't just not talk to her forever."

"How would you know? You don't have any siblings who hate you because you're gay. It's easier for you, isn't it? Because you're into women too," Aiden blurted out throwing the bag of piercings into the drawer violently.

"Right now I'm explictly into guys. Or you know, into one guy," he chuckled and passed him heading for the desk, running his hand over Pearce's back. "Also, I don't have siblings, but you should meet my parents and hear what they think about it."

"Seriously? As far as I'm concerned, you're not even close with your parents," Aiden muttered and finished arranging the tools.

"I don't really like talking about that," Brenks sighed and looked down on the calendar. "Maybe some other day, after some booze."

"Then I'm pretty sure you're not the best example of acceptance and family love," Aiden snorted.

"Listen here, you little..." Damien begun and took a step towards Aiden, but then the door opened and T-Bone walked in with a huge smile on his face. "Go upstairs, I'll call you when your client comes."

"Thanks," Pearce muttered and obeyed with a smirk. "Remember what I told you."

"Yeah," Damien said rolling his eyes and turned to Ray. "Good morning sir. Why so early, this time?"

"Well..."

Aiden didn't hear the rest of their conversation as he went upstairs.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shameless fanart.

Alrighty guys, I know this isn't a real update, but it's on the way pretty soon! I'm sick and really didn't feel like writing. I've been drawing though. These aren't perfect, but I enjoyed drawing them. They are completely out of context for now, it's just an early concept for further chapters. Also in two different drawing styles, because I'm trash. 


	11. [Talk_Irish_to_Me]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't do summaries. Sorry, just deal with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, not even any plot here. It's just a cute thing I wrote to get rid of stress and feeling shitty when I got the flu.
> 
> Enjoy <3

A few nights later they were in the bedroom again. The lights were turned off and the only sounds in the room were their heavy breathing and muffled groans. Damien caressed Aiden's stubble with his fingers lightly as the other man sat upon him, moving eagerly. Damien's other hand was pressing on Pearce's back and ass and it didn't take long for them to finish, panting and reaching forward to touch each other's bodies.

Aiden growled quietly and his muscles twitched around Damien, who pulled him in for a last kiss, before he found his release. Merely after a while, Aiden fell on the bed beside him with a breathy chuckle.

"Who would have known I'd like it," he murmured as Brenks ran his finger down his chin and neck, to the centre of his chest and up again.

"I'm most certainly happy you do."

Aiden snorted.

"That's for sure," he said before he covered them both with a blanket. "I might have found someone suitable for the job today."

"A guy?"

"A woman, actually. Her name is Donna Dean. You'll meet her on monday."

Damien laughed and kissed his neck fondly. His hand travelled over Aiden's chest and shoulder to finally put his arm around him and rest his face upon his torso.

"Hey, how do you know it won't make me jealous?" Pearce pouted and Damien just sighed, when he felt the warm touch of Aiden's hand upon his back.

He loved these hands so much. He could watch Aiden draw and work for hours, just to see these amazing hands and fingers move, holding the pen or tattoo machine. They always got Damien running on a whole new level than ladies' curves or men's firm muscles. It was something extraordinary, these hands' movements and overall. They were dexterous and Aiden was always in perfect control, whatever he was doing. Pressing the pen against the paper, filling in contour lines, digging in needles into people's skin or carefully caressing his lover's body with short, soft strokes. An artist's hands.

"You'll never have to be," Damien murmured and unawarely repeated Aiden's moves with his own fingers.

Slowly he inhaled Aiden's characteristic smell, which always turned him on so much. The faint, weathered smell of his cologne topped by the fresh smell of sweat and sex. The distinctive smell of green soap and ink that Aiden worked with all the time. Occasionally, when Aiden felt like smoking a cigarette or two, the smoke was lingering in his hair, irritating Damien's nostrils. This was one of such days, and Brenks couldn't say he didn't enjoy it.

He loved everything about this man, he was the embodiment of everything he ever desired. Every time like this, he just wondered how someone could just simply use him and let go. Aiden Pearce wasn't someone he would ever want to leave.

"Aiden, do you know any Irish?" Damien asked suddenly softly and Aiden smirked.

"You mean Gaelic? Yeah, my granddad taught me some. Why do you ask?"

"Say something in Irish."

" _Táim i ngrá leat, Damien_ ," Aiden purred and blew some air softly into his ear. Damien felt a small pleasant shiver travel down his neck and he thought his heart skipped a beat.

"I don't care what you said, it sounded hot as fuck," he mumbled. "Say more."

Aiden laughed softly.

"I could be insulting you right now."

"I don't think you are. And I most certainly don't care."

"I'm not," Aiden admitted and ruffled Brenks' short hair with a smile." _Tá tú go h-álainn_."

"How do I say 'goodnight'?" Damien asked and kissed Aiden's collarbone.

" _Oíche mhaith_."

"Oihe maith?"

Aiden chuckled. "Almost. _Oíche mhaith_."

"Oiche mhaih."

"Close enough."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Táim i ngrá leat, Damien - I'm in love with you, Damien
> 
> Tá tú go h-álainn - You're very beautiful
> 
> Okay, not even sorry for this fluff guys. This whole "I should write plot" thing is getting out of hand hahaha :D


	12. [Maybe_Slightly_Drunk]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just really like clubs, okay?

On Saturday night they went out. For the first time in forever, they went out. Without a plan or even any ideas where to go, but at least they left the studio for once. Finally Damien decided a club sounded like a great idea, even though Aiden protested at first.

"Damien, isn't a club a place where people hook up? Not interested in that in particular at the moment," Aiden said and felt Damien's warm hand grasp his and brush over his skin with his thumb. He couldn't help but smirk at that gesture, which was mostly a thing Brenks did just to assure him that he was there and that he didn't plan to let go.

"Just loosen up a little, we'll dance and have some fun for once," Damien  murmured and squeezed his hand.

"I don't dance," Aiden answered and looked up to see where they were even going.

He sighed when he recognised the street they were on. Brenks was leading him to Dot Connexion, a small club in the Loop. Aiden has never been in there, but the crowds outside made it quite clear that it wasn't an empty place.

"Neither do I. There's always time to start, am I right?" Damien let go of his hand and put his hands in his jacket pockets. "Besides, the more you drink, the better you dance."

Pearce snorted. "It doesn't exactly work like that. Besides, you know it takes time for me to actually get dance-ready-drunk."

"Then we need to get to work as soon as possible," Damien laughed but his smile fainted when he saw the queue in front of the entrance. "We'll stand here for some time I think."

Aiden looked at him playfully and headed directly for the security guards at the entrance. "What are you doing?" Brenks asked.

"Believe it or not, I do actually know people besides you," Aiden said before he walked up to the two men standing at the door with arms crossed on their chests. "Didn't know you still worked here, Jordi."

The Asian man frowned and looked first at Aiden, Damien and then at Aiden again, before his face brightened up in realisation. He bumped his fist with Aiden's and laughed shortly.

"I barely recognised you, the face piercings and all! Not an usual place for you to come by, ain't it?"

"My friend made me. Jordi, this is Damien. Damien, this is Jordi Chin. We went to highschool together in Belfast when he was at an exchange," Aiden said and turned to Brenks who managed to smile awkwardly. "Any chance we could skip the line?"

Chin looked at his partner, who was busy letting other people in and didn't even notice the conversation. He smirked.

"Not for free."

"Five bucks?"

"Seven."

"You love your uneven numbers, don't you? Damien, where's your wallet?" Aiden asked and looked up to him with a sigh.

Damien wheezed, but picked up his wallet and picked up dollar bills slowly. "Remind me, why always me?"

"You know exactly why," Aiden murmured and let his hand slid down his hip and ass unnoticeably. Damien glanced at Jordi who took the money and let them in, without noticing Aiden's move, and then at Pearce, with a scolding expression.

"See ya around," Jordi said and looked down on the banknotes in his hands. "Keep out of trouble, metalface."

"As usual," Aiden said and Damien raised his brow when he saw that Pearce winked, winked, before they opened the door and got inside the club.

The music was loud, even before they entered the main room. Too loud in Aiden's opinion, though Damien thought it was perfectly fine. Pearce headed for the bar, grabbing Damien's wrist and pulling him behind him.

"You wanna get drunk already?" Damien asked, trying to overpower the music with his voice.

"Sure thing. I won't dance sober, forget it," Aiden answered and gently pushed out some people of the way.

They sat on the stools and Damien ordered two shots of tequila, before Aiden even spoke. But Brenks knew what he wanted. They wouldn't usually go out, but hell, they surely did drink at home.

"This isn't much different than all the other times," Pearce said shrugging his shoulders and steading his elbow upon the top, gripping the shot between his fingers. "At least we don't drink tequila from paper cups this time."

"That's a good thing. We're improving," Damien laughed and lift his glass to pink it against Aiden's. "To this night, Aiden."

The other man smirked slightly. "To our business."

"To us."

"To us."

Though Aiden thought of himself as a heavy weight drinker, it didn't take much to get him going. At least not tequila. After the third shot he was starting to loosen up a little, just leaning in closer to Damien and talking about everything and nothing. Damien was leaning against the top tilting his head and moved over from tequila to his favorite beer. Aiden was aiming on getting drunk and Damien would let him, though he wanted at the same time to look out for him.

"You know what babe? W-we should go dance," Aiden let out finally after he finished another drink. "Or wait, maybe not."

Damien chuckled. "You change your mind like a girl."

"It's just..." Pearce shook his head and wiped his mouth. He looked over the crowd. The party has actually begun already, the music was even louder than before and the lights were dancing between the sweaty people. "I don't want anyone to see."

"To see you dancing, or to see us?" Damien asked and snorted. "It's dark, don't you worry about that," he said and stood up grabbing Aiden's hand. Aiden resisted at first but finally put away his glass and let Damien guide him onto the dance floor.

"I should warn you, I really can't dance," Aiden shouted to make himself audible.

His legs were unsteady and he almost fell over when someone bumped into him. For a split second he thought he'd meet the floor warmed up by the clubbers caught up in a wild messy dance. Fortunately he got his balance back and let his hands go around Damien's waist when he got close enough. He rested his chin upon his shoulder and just let Brenks guide the moves to some old remixed beat.

"Is that Iggy Azalea?" Aiden let out with a snort looking behind Damien's shoulder. The other man turned around and nudged him between his ribs.

"Don't be mean, that's at least a Nicki Minaj. You saw her ass?" he laughed very close to Aiden's ear, swinging their bodies to the beat.

"That ass could turn me straight," Pearce answered and felt the pain between his ribs again. "You started," he reminded Damien, who looked at him scoldingly.

Aiden's vision was slightly blurry, but he felt the moment when Damien's hands ran down to his hips and ass, pulling him closer and making him almost fall over. Pearce snorted and let his own hand grab Damien's head and pull him in for a kiss. And another. Damien moved his face away from Aiden and leaned forward to kiss the side of his chin and neck.

"Damien," Aiden muttered trying to push him away gently, "not here."

"Outside?" Damien rasped and caressed his back.

"No. We're here having fun now."

"Depends on what you mean by 'fun'," Damien snorted, but didn't push. They continued looping around, pushed back and forth by other people in the crowd who wanted a more active dance.

Aiden let his fingers tap the beat of the song on Damien's butt and let out a drunken chuckle when Damien kissed his forehead and caressed the back of his neck. They lost track of time when switching between the table and the dancefloor. They also definitely lost the count of how much they have drunk.

"I love you even more when I'm drunk," Pearce laughed when another song came on and Damien was singing along, though Aiden couldn't even hear the words.

"If you're saying that out loud it must mean you're really drunk."

"I might be. Can we go home now? My legs kinda hurt. And I just might puke sometime soon," Aiden said slowly and Damien just nodded, grabbing his hand and pulling him slowly towards the exit. "I love you a lot, Damien," Aiden jabbered, holding his arm with both of his hands when they got out into the chilly night. But neither of them felt the low temperature, their blood heated by the alcohol.

"Like," Aiden started again, mumbling," I don't know what I would do if you were straight, you know what 'am saying?"

Damien laughed and looked at him for a split second, but then had to look back at the street before him to not fall over. "Just shut up, will ya?"

"But I love you," Pearce murmured and had to lean against Damien to not fall over, which resulted in them both stumbling on the sidewalk. "You're like... really hot. Will... will you be my boyfriend?"

High alcohol tolerance, eh? Damien thought mockingly, but then he realised that he couldn't really think straight either. He usually had problems with being straight in general, but that was slightly different.

"Aiden, I am your boyfriend," he said after a moment of just clumsily walking down the street.

"Thank God, or this would be awkward," Pearce let out with a sigh and started laughing. "Damn Damien, I'm so ripped."

"Don't care. Me too."

Fortunately, the streets were unusually empty for 4AM on a Saturday morning. They weren't disturbed, just walking down the street and laughing, telling each other stupid drunken stories.

Aiden unlocked the studio door with his shaky hands, after more than three attempts of inserting the key. Then he opened the inner door and finally, when they've crawled up the stairs, the apartment door. Inside they just shook off their coats an fell onto their bed heavily.

"This was a mistake," Aiden growled. "It's not yet, I know it will be."

"Shut up."

"Did I lock the door downstairs?"

"I did. Come here," Damien murmured and pulled Aiden on top of his chest, kissing his lips lightly.

It was a clumsy drunken kiss, but at that moment none of them would say that. It was perfect. Even though the taste of mixed alcohol and the smell of sweat from their earlier dance. "We'll die tomorrow, won't we?" Aiden purred, resting his head between Damien's neck and shoulder.

"Probably. 'night."

"'night."


	13. [Heaven?]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This wasn't supposed to be this fluffy and so much smut but ugh, it happened. I'm not sorry in any way, I really love this fic the way it is.

"To be honest, I would prefer death over this," were Aiden's first words in the morning.

"I don't think so. I don't think they have amazing gay sex in heaven," Damien mumbled quietly, hiding his head underneath the pillow.

"There is no heaven. And if there was one, we would never get invited." Aiden groaned and sat up on the bed, but changed his mind and fell on it again. "I really want to throw up but my throat is too dry."

"Thank you for the information," Damien scoffed, barely audible from underneath the pillow. "On a scale from none to nine, how big is the chance that..."

"I'm not making breakfast."

"Oh."

Aiden grunted and crept forward, letting his head hang down over the edge of the bed. "I said lots of bullshit last night, didn't I?"

Brenks snorted. "Well... It was better than last week though."

"Good. Get me some water."

"Hey, what's with the demanding tone? I can't remember when was the last time _you_ got me wa..."

"All night on Friday."

Damien moved away the pillow slowly.

"I'm all ears."

Aiden chuckled quietly. "Eggs, a sandwich, a big bottle of water, coffee and painkillers. You've got fifteen minutes," he murmured and turned over on his back, as Brenks rushed up, cursing under his breath.

"You're a brat, Aiden," he muttered, but headed for the kitchen to not risk anything.

"Maybe," Pearce murmured lazily and started pulling off his clothes slowly and throwing them off the bed. "Sleeping with clothes on is awful."

"I _usually_ prefer you naked," Damien added and Aiden heard that he started cooking water in the kettle.

"You seem more thirsty than I am," he joked and pulled off his boxers too, standing up and walking up to the door, leaning against the frame and yawning loudly as he ran his fingers through his hair. "You better hurry, I want breakfast when I've dressed," he mocked Damien, who glanced at him and then back at the sandwiches and then smirked, taking a longer look at his partner.

"Well hello there sunshine," he murmured and followed him with his gaze as Aiden walked closer to the sink and leaned down to the tap to drink some water from it. Some turned into a lot, and a few seconds later Aiden just collected some water in his cupped hands and splashed it over his face. Damien chuckled, when Aiden moved away from the sink and shook his head to get the water off his hair. Some strands got stuck on his forehead, but he didn't really care.

Damien couldn't help but just look at him for another moment. The bags under Aiden's eyes were more noticable than usual and his basic facial hair was starting to cover more than Pearce usually liked. It was probably one of the last moments Damien saw it like that, as Aiden would surely shave it off in a moment.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Pearce asked rubbing his eyes.

"Besides that you're naked?"

"Well..."

Damien laughed and smiled wider looking down on the top again to see what he was actually covering in butter. "You're very, very beautiful."

Aiden snorted and stroked Damien's back lightly before he headed for the bathroom. Brenks turned after him and eyed him from head to toe, stopping slightly longer on his butt and the fox tattoo, but then he came up to his wide shoulders and soft, now a little wet hair, almost covering the tattoo in the back of his neck. "I'm serious."

Pearce turned his face to him again and just smiled in answer, before he shut the bathroom door.

 

After a quick shower, three painkillers, two coffees and a big breakfast, life suddenly felt better again. Before they noticed, late Sunday morning changed into Sunday afternoon, and as every Sunday afternoon, Aiden went downstairs to check on their supplies and the schedule. Damien wouldn't usually care, but Aiden liked to be more organised. Brenks hated taking care of bills and planning visits, so when he employed Aiden, at first his role was replacing Damien in that duty. Soon they just wordlessly agreed that Damien would do the groceries and Aiden would take care of finances. Of course, Damien was supposed to do that now, when the mysterious 'Donna' would take his place until he was better.

"But I don't even get it," Aiden muttered looking through the envelopes from different companies and booting up his laptop. He sat on the floor behind the couch while Damien lied on it and watched TV.

"You don't get what?" Damien answered sleepily and pulled up the blanket further up to his chin.

" _Why_ do you get these panic attacks? I thought you were alright already... Show me your arm," he said suddenly and put away the laptop to get up and lean over the backrest of the couch.

"What do you..." Damien said frowning when Aiden tugged on the blanket and grabbed his right arm. Pearce knew he never used the veins on his left arm, because he couldn't see them because of the ink covering his skin. "Aiden," he growled, when the other man held his arm steadily and rolled up his sleeve slowly, "you know I didn't take any. I don't have any."

Aiden moved his fingers up and down his forearm and the inside of his elbow, pressing on Damien's older scars. Then he pulled him closer to the lamp next to the couch and Brenks just groaned in protest, but Aiden wouldn't let go. He moved closer and looked for fresh marks. "Aiden, I seriously didn't take any."

"Just checking on you," Pearce murmured and sighed before he let him go. "Sorry. I'm just worried."

"It's the needles, babe. I sometimes just get that urge," Damien mumbled and turned his face back to the TV. "It's not the best thing that could happen. Needles as a trigger, leading the lifestyle we lead."

Aiden frowned and leaned over the seat again to kiss Damien's cheek softly before he got down on the floor again. "Then there's two of us, fuck-ups."

"You worry too much, Aiden," Damien murmured sitting up and looking down at his partner. "You know we'll do just fine. We always did."

Aiden smiled faintly and typed in the last numbers on his computer before he shut it, putting it and the envelopes on the coffee table before he fell on the couch next to Damien and rested his head upon his shoulder. Brenks grasped his hand and guided it towards his mouth to kiss Aiden's fingers lightly. "I have a suggestion."

"It involves me taking my clothes off, doesn't it?" Pearce purred and chuckled lightly at Damien who tried very hard to pretend being offended.

"Why would you ever think that?" he said theatratically, putting his other hand over his chest. "Such an accusation, and what are your arguments? "

"Number one is that I feel like getting naked with you and I don't think you'd turn me down," Aiden sighed and leaned in closer to Damien to peck on his lips shortly.

He put his hand on Brenks' knee and slid it up his thigh slowly. Damien tensed a little under his soft touch, when Aiden rested his forehead against his and let his hand reach his lover's groin. They kissed again, longer this time, and Damien ran his fingers through Aiden's hair slowly as the other man rubbed Brenks' package through his jeans, biting his lower lip lightly.

He grabbed Damien by the back of his neck and pulled him closer. He breathed in loudly through his nose and pressed it against Damien's cheek as Brenks' hand slid down his spine and caressed his lower back. Aiden moaned into his mouth softly as Damien curled his tongue around his, running over the two piercings a few times.  
  
When they parted, a small string of saliva dripped down Aiden's chin. Damien smiled widely and snaked his hand under Pearce's t-shirt in the back, while Aiden started to unzip Brenks' zipper, tugging on the fabric of his jeans.   
  
"Calm down a little, we're not rushing anywhere," Damien murmured when Aiden moved to sit on his lap and leaned in to nibble on his earlobe.  
  
"Make me," Aiden joked and Damien just smirked in answer.  
  
"It's a little too late to build up sexual tension, you know."  
  
"Why does it matter?" Aiden chuckled and kissed him on the lips again, brushing his chin against Damien's facial hair. He just sighed in answer, as Aiden pulled off his own t-shirt clumsily and threw it on the ground, popping his jeans' button right after that.  
  
"How about we play a game called 'Aiden listens to what Damien wants'?"  
  
"We _usually_ do it your way," Aiden remarked and frowned.   
  
"You're almost always on top."  
  
"And yet I'm always _bottoming_ ," he added and stroked Damien's cheek lightly.   
  
"You seem to enjoy it," Damien murmured and looked up concerned. "If you don't want to, I..."  
  
"It's alright. I just wanted to use it as an argument," Aiden assured him quickly and rested his chin upon Damien's head, letting him kiss his neck slowly. "How would _your_ way be?"  
  
Damien smirked.   
  
"I'm not sure you'll like it."  
  
"Just try me," Aiden said with a wider smile and guided Damien's hands onto his ass. Brenks didn't hesitate before clenching on him and making Aiden breathe out loudly again.  
  
"Alright then. Stand up," Damien told him quietly and Aiden nodded and slid off of his partner, standing up. Damien gestured him to walk behind the couch and  stood up himself, undoing the buttons of his shirt with one hand.   
  
He looked up to Aiden's face and huffed through his nose. "It's amusing you."  
  
Aiden crossed his arms upon his bare chest and leaned against the wall between the bedroom and bathroom door. "Of course. I'm curious. And horny."  
  
Damien chortled and tossed his shirt behind him, approaching Aiden whose gaze travelled over his tattoos that he knew so well. "It's nothing special, I just know you don't like when you can't look at me."   
  
Aiden frowned as Damien caressed his chest and hip. "I'm out if you mean blindfolding. Hate these things."  
  
Damien kissed his shoulder lightly. "No. Turn around." Aiden looked at him questioningly. "Come on."  
  
"I don't like not seeing what you're doing," he whined, but turned around to face the wall.   
  
"I know, but don't you trust me?" Damien breathed against the back of his neck.   
  
Aiden relaxed his muscles a little when Brenks unzipped his trousers completely while pressing his chest against Aiden's back. "You know I trust you. More than anyone," he purred as Damien slid in his hand in his boxers and kissed his shoulder. Soon he stroked Aiden's half-hard cock and licked his shoulder just before he sucked on his skin, leaving a red hickey.   
  
Pearce shivered and tossed his head back, letting out an encouraging moan as Damien's fingers irritated his sensitive flesh. He leaned his chest against the wall and tilted his head to the side to not get his face crushed. Damien embraced his lips with his from behind his shoulder. The angle was awkward, but Damien could feel that Aiden liked it. And if he didn't, then at least his cock did.   
  
"Come on," Pearce let out breathily when they parted.   
  
" 'Come on' what?" Damien chuckled and slid down his trousers and boxers. Aiden kicked them off frantically. In the next second he wanted to turn around and kiss Damien a second time, but he got pushed against the wall again. "Don't move."  
  
Aiden snorted but didn't put up a fight. Damien parted Aiden's legs wider and ran his fingers over his ass and over to the front of his hip.   
  
"This is embarrassing," Aiden murmured and Damien just laughed in answer.  
  
"Why? There's just us here, and I don't think it's embarrassing at all," he said and ground his face against Aiden's back. "What do you want me to do, Aiden?"  
  
"Don't make me say it."  
  
"Then how about..." Damien's hand travelled back to Pearce's ass and parted his cheeks. Aiden let out a quiet grunt when Damien licked his finger and slid it into him slowly.   
  
"Yes. That's going the right way," he mumbled and rested his forehead against the wall.   
  
Damien continued pushing into him while pulling off the rest of his clothes and throwing them on the ground. Aiden flinched when he slowly added another finger. He curved his back, and pushed back to Damien. A breathy groan left his mouth, when Damien went on deeper, making him squirm in a sudden wave of pain and pleasure.   
  
"Hurry up," he whined, when Brenks' other hand wrapped around his already leaking cock again.  
  
"As you wish, baby."  
  
Aiden felt so exposed and uncomfortable when Damien pulled out of him. At least it didn't take long at all until the fingers got replaced with Damien's length. Pearce whimpered when he pushed deeper. It was difficult with just spit as lubricant, but they didn't really think about it before it was a little too late.   
  
"Fuck, you're really tense," Damien huffed and clenched on Aiden's hips, having an almost bruising grip on them. "Seriously, Aiden, just..."

"I know. Sorry, it hurts," Pearce managed to let out with difficulties and breathed in with a whistling sound. "Oh fuck, that's a Nickelback."

Damien wanted to pull out of him, but Aiden reached back and held him in place.

"Aiden, we can stop if it's bad. Sorry, I was too quick."

"It's alright, I just overestimated my ass capability," he whined and Damien couldn't help but snort. "Go on. Slowly."

Damien pushed into him all the way carefully, forcing a low growl out of Aiden's throat. He started moving very slowly, loosing the grip on his lover's body and caressing his back instead, following the outlines of Aiden's tattoo with his fingers. The younger man moved his hands to steady himself against the wall, curving his back more. "I want to see you," he let out with woe in his voice. Damien smirked and snaked his arms around Aiden's waist, running down his chest and thighs.

"Most people like it this way, you should at least try," he murmured and made another long move. He could feel Aiden's body twitch, when he brushed over his sweet spot. "There we go."

Aiden started loosing up a little, the pain slowly replaced by growing pleasure. He rocked his hips back against Damien and from time to time he could let out the most erotic sounds Brenks could ever imagine. If he didn't care about how Aiden felt, he could finish to just his voice alone. Aiden could make his name sound like the most passionate thing in the world, and though he used to do that all the time, Damien never grew bored of it.

Aiden let out a short high pitched cry when Damien hit his spot again. He rocked against him more and more frantically, losing the rythm. Brenks leaned over him and bit his neck carefully sucking his skin and marking him with another hickey.

"Fuck, Damien, I'll fall over," Aiden groaned and stopped moving, reaching back to grab Damien by his hips and he turned them both around, so he could steady himself upon the backrest of the couch. He bent over it so his head would hang down as his elbows almost reached the seat. The rough fabric of the couch rubbed against his cock as Damien picked up his moves, leaning over Aiden and letting out hot, steamy breaths everywhere he could reach.

"Aiden..." he groaned in low voice. Aiden could feel Damien's facial hair scratching against his back and his usually soft and gentle hands, clenching roughly on every piece of his body.

A few more thrusts, together with the friction the couch gave him and Damien's mouth on his neck was all Aiden needed to come undone. He tensed while groaning loudly and pulsed around Damien, who flew over the edge with his name on the lips. He fell on Aiden's back with his chest, as they were both taken by the aftershocks, gasping loudly.

After a moment, Aiden managed to straighten up and push away Damien to finally turn around. "I might like your ways a little," he chuckled, leaning against the couch and trying to calm his breath.

Damien grinned in answer and took a small step towards Aiden to kiss him softly and wrap his arms around him, resting his chin upon Aiden's shoulder. Pearce just patted his back awkwardly, unprepared for that kind of gesture after what just happened.

"Damien? Are you okay?" he murmured and Damien just nodded slightly. "Babe, I need to shower," he added after a moment, feeling come running down his thighs. He sighed in sudden realization. "We forgot condoms."

"You don't seem very alarmed. "

"I'm not, but you're not the one who has to clean up the mess now. Also, we should've talked about this," Aiden mumbled and Damien finally moved away from him a little to look at his face with his usual concerned expression.

"Sorry."

"Not your fault." He couldn't help but smile when he saw that the concern  on Damien's face was turning into a smirk. Whatever he was, he wasn't sorry, not at all.

Aiden kissed him again, caressing his soft tattooed skin. "You're cleaning the couch though."

"It's not _my_  fault, that you jizzed on the couch," Damien groaned as Aiden looked at him scoldingly. "Okay, maybe it _was_  my fault. Let's shower," he added, letting his lover stand up as he picked up his jeans from the floor.

"Could you go out and grab something to eat later? The fridge is empty," Aiden murmured and Damien just nodded, smiling at him lightly. "Hell, you're perfect," Pearce chuckled and pecked him on the lips again, before grabbing his hand and heading for the bathroom.   
  



	14. [Flowers_and_Bruises]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The tags say that everyone is 14 years younger, right? Well that's a lie. Poppy is still 23.
> 
> Enjoy!

What Aiden didn't expect when employing Donna Dean through several phone calls, was that she was stunning. When she came through the door of the studio on Monday, Aiden Pearce questioned his sexuality once again, when he saw her big dark eyes surrounded by light blue and purple eyeshadow. Her skin was in a warm dark brown tone and as she had a white shirt with sleeves loosely exposing her shoulders, he saw tattooed curlicues and subtle flowers in white ink, which ran out over her chest, upper back and shoulders and down to her elbows. Donna's head was shaved almost down to skin and she had a nose ring connected to her left ear with several chains. Besides that, Aiden noted symmetrical collarbone piercings and an eyebrow piercing on the same side where Damien had his, but horizontally.

She smiled faintly walking towards the desk. Aiden glanced nervously towards the stairs, but Damien was probably still asleep, though it was nearly noon. He stood up and nodded towards her, returning the smile.

"Nice to meet you. Aiden, right?" she said softly, reaching out to shake his hand.

Her voice was pleasant, even to Aiden's ears that preferred lower sounds. It sounded even better than when it was distorted by the telephone.

"Donna, right?"

"Poppy. Friends call me Poppy. It's kind of ironic, as I've tattoed hundreds of daisies, but for some reason Poppy fits better," she said with a chuckle and let go of his hand.

Aiden huffed through his nose and tilted his head to the side, taking a longer look at the woman. Poppy lift one of her perfectly drawn eyebrows and snorted. "You don't talk much, do you?" she joked and then looked around the studio. "Cozy. Did you paint these? They are beautiful" she said, pointing at the ceiling, filled with Aiden's artwork.

A wider smile lit up Pearce's face. "Yes, thanks. Damien thought it was a little empty here and asked me to do it the first day I was employed," he explained and walked in behind the desk to sit on the chair again. "Alright, about your work here..."

"Sorry, 'Damien'?"

Aiden looked up slowly. Interrupting. He hated when people interrupted him, but he needed to be gentle here, build a hierarchy. If she turned out to be a bad person to work with or any other problem occurred, he didn't want to suddenly be on the bottom of the food chain in his own studio. With as much experience as he had in social life and business, this is how it usually started. Interrupting.

"The guy you'll sub," he finally said after a moment of silence. "He'll be down in a while, he's in the apartment upstairs."

"Your boss?" Poppy wondered, pulling a stool closer to the desk and sitting on it.

Aiden's mouth twitched. Hierarchy. "My partner. And roommate. Anyway..." He picked up the calendar, "I'm not sure about your abilities. Do you have your documents and..."

The exchange of documents was one of the reasons Damien has slept in on this particular morning. On this particular _noon_. Besides lack of clients, of course.

He always hated formal paper work and when Aiden said he would take care of the employing thing, Brenks just nodded and went back to watching the TV, hoping that it wasn't a huge mistake. Aiden didn't really have any experience in actually _employing_ people though. So of course, as a mature adult, instead of going downstairs, Damien has opened the front door, still wrapped in his blanket and just listened to how Aiden was doing, peaking through the chink. He couldn't really see more than half of Aiden and the back of Donna's shaved head.

Damien couldn't say he wasn't curious. He wasn't curious enough to put his clothes on and take part in the formal conversation, though. Not to mention that he still couldn't look Aiden in the eye without getting all hot after all the morning teasing, when Aiden tried to make Damien get up. He succeeded. Partially.

Slowly Damien shut the door and sneaked back into the bedroom, falling onto the bed. He would wait until it was over. Maybe get down when Aiden called him. He changed all Damien's clients to Donna, so he didn't have to do anything involving needles for some time, that meant no going down to clients. 

It bothered Damien a lot though. Feeling so useless.

He looked down onto his arm, where the white scars dwelled. It wasn't a physical problem, he didn't lie to Aiden, he was off for weeks now. He didn't _crave_ it anymore, it was the fear that he would go back to it one day, that made him panic.

Damien didn't even hear when the door opened and Aiden walked inside, crossing his arms over his chest. It was first when he cleared his throat loudly, when Brenks looked up.

"Busy?" Aiden asked in a snarky tone, when Damien covered himself a little.

The older man smirked. "I could get."

"Jeez, Damien," Aiden hissed, but he smiled slightly, "do you sometimes _not_  think about sex?"

"I could ask you the same thing. What was that in the morning?" Brenks murmured and sat up.

The blanket was only covering his groin and Aiden let his gaze slip down his naked body, but he looked away. "You should get dressed and meet her, you know," he said changing the topic.

"For how long did you say you'll be gone?"

"Like five minutes, why are you... No, Damien, no."

"Come on, babe."

"Will you get downstairs then?"

"Can't say I won't."

Aiden sighed and rolled his eyes before shutting the door and getting onto the bed over Damien. "Don't," he murmured, when Brenks' wanted to pull down his trousers. He grabbed Damien by his hips and pulled him closer to the edge of the bed, sliding down himself to kneel on the floor. "We don't have _that_ much time."

His partner just smiled.

They went downstairs seven minutes later. Damien was finishing buttoning his shirt and Aiden fixed his cap, licking his lips lazily and making Damien let out a muffled snort. He stopped laughing though, when Poppy looked up to them and smiled lightly from the stool she sat on. She stood up and reached out to shake Damien's hand.

"Damien, this is Poppy, Poppy, this is Damien," Aiden said with an almost bored voice and sat behind the desk again, opening his laptop.

Damien was looking at Poppy admiringly. At least he didn't have to _question_ his sexuality. "Pleased to meet you," he said with a smirk and lift her hand slowly to his lips to kiss it. Poppy smiled wider and Aiden frowned in the background.

He didn't like it at all. He didn't like when someone else was touching Damien, in whatever way. Even if it was something so much more innocent than what they did a few minutes ago. It stung him how jealous he has gotten through the months of just meeting some not-so-close of Damien's friends and basically no one else but him and the clients.

Damien let go of her hand gently and walked over to Aiden, leaning in from behind his back to look at the screen. "What's on today?"

"Work, I guess" Pearce murmured jokingly, but in a weirdly tense way.

Poppy walked over to one of the leather chairs and started looking through the drawer. Aiden noticed that Damien followed her swaying hips with his gaze, and it felt weirdly uncomfortable, that Pearce couldn't just tell him in that very moment what was on his mind.

But the thing about living together for so long is knowing each other's body language thoroughly. So when Damien noticed how Aiden tensed, he slid his hand down his spine slowly, almost unnoticeably leaning in closer when Poppy turned around, as he rubbed his cheek against Aiden's softly.

"You know I'm yours," he murmured very quietly before stretching his back and moving away to show Poppy where his equipment was.

 

They spent the day teaching Donna their usual routine and showing her around. It was a slow day as they didn't have many clients and many necessary things had to be done, many boring things. Aiden made Damien a list of things to buy at the supply shop the following day. Damien was muttering something about how dominant Aiden has gotten because of the economic situation, while he and Poppy were unpacking Monday's delivery.

Pearce just snorted and poked him between his ribs on his way out of the stockroom. "Poppy, follow me. There's more to get at the entrance."

"Aye, boss," she said and laughed at Damien's theatrically disapproving expression.

"When did this happen?" Brenks whined, opening another box with a knife. "I was the authority."

"The moment you stopped paying the bills, Damien," Aiden said while holding the door so Poppy could get out. He looked back to Damien and pinched him on his butt, making him straighten up in surprise. Aiden smirked at his offended face.

"Don't push it," Damien said and his pierced eyebrow twitched. "Just wait until she goes home for tonight, you'll see how dominant I can be," he added more quietly and tilted up Aiden's chin with his fingers.

Pearce huffed through his nose, but smiled, throwing a glance on the doorway. Poppy was already at the entrance, so he didn't have to worry about that, when he leaned in to kiss him shortly. "Not tonight. I'm really tired already and there's still much work to do."

Damien stroked his cheek again, smirking before he let go and turned around to continue unpacking the box. "Mondays are awful, aren't they?"

Aiden didn't answer and just chuckled before joining Poppy at the entrance. She passed him a crate filled with smaller boxes, that Aiden recognised as packages with needles.

"Pack the other ones too. No need to walk twice," he said and gestured her with his fingers to pack more on the crate.

Poppy nodded and laid another few packages on the top, so that there were just some left, so she lift them herself.

Aiden made his grip better on the crate and opened up the door with his foot. As he lift the crate higher to grab the knob underneath, his t-shirt slid up over his stomach and Poppy giggled, when Aiden let her walk inside the studio and then entered right behind her.

"What?" he asked, putting the crate upon the desk.

"Nothing. Had a fun weekend?" Donna smirked and placed her boxes next to it.

Aiden lift an eyebrow and fixed his t-shirt. Then he realised what she meant and he felt his cheeks warm up. Poppy was of course referring to the hickeys Damien left while they were showering yesterday. There were several on Aiden's lower stomach, hips and side. Suddenly he got very aware of the one in the back of his neck, fortunately covered by hair. "Well... yes."

Poppy lift her eyebrows and laughed again. "Who's the lucky girl? You steady with someone?"

She looked down on the boxes again and started unpacking them with her long nails.

Aiden chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head. "Not really. Just eh... we went to Dot Connexion," he finally said and grabbed one package too.

"I see. Last time I went to a club I woke up in Four Seasons with some dude who I've never seen before and an expensive breakfast. All my money was in place and I have no idea who he had to be to have a one night stand in Four Seasons." She laughed and glanced at Aiden, seeing that his face got red. "Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"No, it's alright. I just didn't know they were still so visible," he murmured and pulled up his t-shirt a little again to check on the marks. They were still blazing red. Aiden sighed and let go of the fabric. "Damn it."

"I shouldn't have brought it up, sorry," Donna laughed again. "I almost envy you though."

 _Oh and you should_ , Aiden thought, remembering Damien's touch upon his skin last night, when Brenks was kneeling behind the shower curtain. "Don't you have anyone?" he asked out loud, pushing away the uncomfortable thoughts.

Donna opened a drawer and started putting needles in small plastic containers that Aiden showed her earlier. "No. Nothing serious. Most guys aren't really into my style."

"Girls then?" Aiden asked, before he stopped himself. For a moment he thought it was a mistake, but Poppy just shrugged and got back to unpacking another box.

"Tried. Not really my thing to be honest," she just said softly. "Let's jut finish this, okay? Is it alright if I go home early?"

Aiden nodded and they went back to the awkward silence, before Damien came out from the back of the stockroom.

"I hope that was everything _I_ had to do."

"Not really." Aiden smirked. "Have you transferred my salary?"

Damien rolled his eyes and crossed his arms upon his chest. "Come on, Aiden. You use _my_ card anyway."

"Because you never transfer my cash."

"I actually did last month, and I found a weird bonus that shouldn't be there, care to explain?"

" _You_ gave me the bonus, you know exactly why," Aiden sighed and looked up to him.

They were caught up in intense eye contact, until Poppy started laughing and they both simultaneously remembered that she was indeed still there.

"How does this local still work, when you guys act like an old married couple?" she asked, putting the empty crate on the floor.

"That's the only thing that _keeps_ it working," Damien said with a smirk and headed for the stairs. "I'll be on the couch, if you need anything."

"Yeah right. Old asshole," Aiden answered under his breath, making Poppy chuckle again. He turned to her and smiled faintly. "Let's finish this so you can go home."

 


	15. [Like_a_Kid]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Silent treatment sucks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW it's been a while!
> 
> We're over 500 hits and I'm so excited <3 Thank you guys, I love you so much.
> 
> Also for people who read Pay_To_Claim_the_Prize, sorry for no updates, I really had to think through a few things about that fic and as my lovely sister says: "Fanfics are like farts, if you have to force it - it's probably shit."  
> So the time will come.
> 
> Enjoy the chapter, see you soon c:

It really was an awkward week. Damien was trying to get used to taking care of bills, deliveries and cleaning again, and Aiden was getting really tired of having to take care of Poppy, showing her around.

It wasn't that Donna wasn't smart or that she wasn't kind and good to work with, but the fact that Aiden didn't feel comfortable with spending so much time a day with someone else than Damien. Poppy sure was lovely, but she reminded Aiden too much of Nicky and it hurt him. Even though they were so different on the outside, Aiden sometimes just froze, when he saw Donna's feminine style of walking in the corner of his eye or when he heard her hum while working, the way Nicky did when he used to help her with homework.

He still hasn't called his sister after she visited the studio, but neither has she tried to reach Aiden. Damien used to mock him for just being a coward, but eventually he has stopped, when he saw how it was bringing him down more than he thought it would.

Aiden was getting annoyed because of how Damien was acting too. He was jumping around Poppy like a puppy, bringing her things and giving her small compliments all the time, making Aiden cringe. It was usually Damien that used to act like a jealous dumbass, and though he knew how annoying it was to tickle jealousy, it didn't stop him at all.

"Damien, could you... not?" Aiden murmured, when he saw Damien look up at Poppy from behind the laptop, when she was busy taking care of some client.

Brenks moved his gaze slowly to Aiden, who was leaning against the desk with his arms crossed over his chest. "What?"

"You're doing it again," Aiden sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Doing what?" Damien asked again, leaning against the backrest and frowning. Aiden kept on scowling at him and finally Brenks looked at first at him again, at Poppy and at Aiden again. "Oh you can't be serious, you're not jealous, are you?" he added in lower voice.

Pearce shrugged and looked away, moving his jaw forward and then looking as if he wanted to answer, but just shook his head and bit his lip. "Forget it."

Damien was looking at him for another moment, but then turned back to the screen. "You worry too much," he murmured and turned up the music.

Aiden huffed and walked towards the stairs to go up to the apartment. Damien followed him with his gaze, slightly concerned, thought he tried to seem as if he didn't care, just the way he usually did.

What Damien didn't expect was that Aiden's bad mood would still be there a few days later, not loosing up though he seemed to get more comfortable with Poppy at the studio. He most certainly wasn't comfortable with her touching, talking or even breathing next to Damien, though. No need to mention that Brenks was getting quite annoyed at how Aiden was observing him most of the time.   
  
"It's almost as if you didn't trust me at all!" Damien whined when Aiden reminded him in the evening about something Brenks has said or done that apparently made him jealous again. "Because I say that a girl's eyes are pretty, doesn't mean I'll fuck her when you're out."  
  
"That's not what I said," Aiden wheezed and stood up to open the fridge.   
  
"Then what's your fucking problem?" Damien muttered and turned off the TV. "I wish you trusted me."  
  
"I trust you." Aiden picked out juice from the fridge and unscrewed the cap. "It's just..."  
  
"Then stop it. I can't just stop talking to someone just because _you_ are getting jealous," Damien said bitterly and turned around to face Aiden. "Even though I love you so much."

The younger man swallowed the orange juice and huffed through his nose. "You're still really annoying."  
  
" _You_ are."  
  
Aiden sighed and shook his head. "You're a moron. A constantly flirting moron."  
  
"Look, I know you're angry, okay. And nervous. And scared, that I'll..."  
  
"I just... Why do you keep doing it?" Aiden walked closer to the couch and rested against the backrest, hanging over it. "You know I hate it, and you're still doing it."  
  
"What do you think I should do then, if you still refuse to tell Poppy about us? Just not be friends with her? For no real reason at all? Because you're even more jealous than I am?" Damien finally said in one breath, tilting his head and looking at him with a frown.   
  
Aiden opened his mouth and closed it again, not giving away any sounds. He sighed and straightened up, before he walked over to the bedroom and shut the door.   
  
"You're acting like a kid, Aiden," Damien shouted after him, but didn't get any answer.   
  
That was also the first time that Damien was the one spending the night on the couch. It wasn't the last either, as Aiden refused to speak to him about anything, even for the studio business he used Poppy as a medium . That's how most of their small fights ended, but this silent period was longer than the others, it has almost been a week now.  
  
"What's up between the two of you?" Poppy wondered, when she followed Damien to the stockroom.   
  
Brenks crossed his arms upon his chest and sighed loudly. Aiden was upstairs and still ignored every move Damien tried to make towards him. Words, touching, everything. Sex seemed to be a distant memory. "Don't even ask. Aiden is pissed at me, giving me the silent treatment. Again."  
  
Donna lift her eyebrow. "He does that often?"  
  
"Every now and then. This one is taking longer than usual, though." Damien bit the inside of his cheek and lift his hand to play with his snakebites nervously. " I hope it'll pass soon."  
  
Poppy grabbed the packages she was looking for and smiled faintly. She patted Damien's back on her way out. "Don't worry, whatever you did, he'll probably make up his mind soon."   
  
Damien snorted. "I hope." He turned after her, and grabbed the broom.  "Wanna come over for a drink tonight?" he asked before following her out. "Aiden probably needs a drink, maybe some company wouldn't be bad."  
  
Poppy smiled wider. "Sure. If Aiden is okay with it."  
  
Brenks nodded and started sweeping the floor with long moves. "He has to be. I'm worried about how he's never out with people."  
  
"He has you. I guess he thinks that's enough." Poppy shrugged and walked over to the client who was waiting next to the desk.  
  
Damien was standing still for a moment, just looking after her. Poppy was probably more than right and he had no idea if it made him happy or if it bothered him. Being someone's only friend was a big responsibility and Damien wasn't sure if he wouldn't disappoint his lover. He was almost sure, that he was already disappointing him in this particular moment, but he had no idea how to loosen up the tension at this point.

  
  
When they closed and Poppy drove home for dinner, was the first time since the morning that Damien actually saw Aiden. He had a day off and he spent it locked in their bedroom with his computer. When Damien came upstairs it was almost dark outside and Aiden has eventually moved over to the couch, lying on it with the laptop in his lap.

"Hello, babe," Damien said and ran his fingers through Aiden's hair as he walked over to the small kitchen.  
  
No answer. Aiden acted as if he didn't even notice that Damien got back. The older man sighed with frustration and leaned against the stove. "Are you hungry? I could make some food."  
  
Aiden remained quiet. The silence was thick and tense, almost suffocating, and it's been that way for a few days now.  
  
"Maybe pizza? Or we could go out somewhere," Damien tried again, tapping on the stove with his fingers. Aiden shifted in his seat, but didn't answer. Brenks grunted. "You know what? If that's the way you want it, great. Poppy is coming around for a while tonight, by the way."  
  
Pearce twitched and Damien could hear that he grit his teeth, but he wouldn't talk, that's for sure. He was too stubborn and filled with determination to silently defeat Damien.   
  
"Fuck you," Brenks added under his breath and headed for the bathroom. "I'm in the shower if you decide that I'm worthy of your voice," he wheezed and shut the door.

Apparently Aiden didn't, though. While Damien was showering, he migrated to the bedroom, first grabbing some food from the kitchen and proceeding to bunker himself up in Damien's bed, just the way he did for the past five nights. When Damien got out of the bathroom, he walked over to the bedroom with just the towel wrapped around his hips. Aiden glanced at him, but looked back at the screen again as Brenks opened the wardrobe to pick out some clothes.

He turned around and sighed after a while, clearly wanting to get Aiden's attention, but he failed. The artist was still typing on the keyboard with a chilly, indifferent expression.

"You could at least turn on some music, so we skip this awkward silence," Damien murmured and turned his back on Aiden again, dropping the towel to the floor. He smirked when he heard Aiden shift on the bed, trying to be sneaky while checking him out. Damien slid on a t-shirt and underwear slowly, rolling his hips slightly. When he turned around Aiden has quickly looked down again, but Damien thought he saw his cheeks become slightly more pink than they usually were. He wouldn't speak though.

"Aiden, we have to talk about something."

Damien didn't expect any answer, but decided to give his lover a moment if he actually decided to speak his mind. He didn't.

"I know you're not giving up this easily, and I have absolutely no idea what you want from me, so it might just take a while..." Another pause. Aiden still didn't say anything, staring blankly at the screen. "And I know you want to defeat me with silence and sexual frustration, but I'd very much like to get back my bed."

Pearce looked up to him slowly and frowned. Damien could almost hear the tangled thoughts buzzing in his head. He almost thought he'd hear Aiden's voice again, when Pearce opened his mouth, but he shut it again and lift his hands slowly, stretching out his middle fingers in a well-known gesture. A mocking smile appeared on his face and Damien just wheezed, walking out of the room, leaving the towel on the floor.

When he lied down on the couch, he still saw light in the other room and heard the soft sound of Aiden's fast typing. Hell, how annoyed Brenks was. He was angry that someone or something got so much more of Aiden's attention than himself.

He was also angry, because without Aiden's laptop, he couldn't check out some videos from his weird porn folder. It's not that Damien was into most of these things, but only the thought that Aiden had it there for a _reason_ was pretty much enough to get him going. And now he couldn't even get that.

 _Who's that loser even writing to?_ he wondered grumpily while tucking himself into the blanket and turning on the TV.

His pride was scattered at this point and slowly but surely he was starting to plot some kind of revenge. If it wasn't ridiculous that Aiden refused to talk to him, it surely was ridiculous that he refused to give him back his bed, in which he didn't even want to sleep before.

Damien sighed and turned off the TV when he realised that the commercials started again. He wanted to get his own laptop, but it was in the bedroom and he didn't want to see that mocking lack of expressions on Aiden's face again, not tonight, so finally he just pulled the blanket up to his chin and started playing some stupid games on his smartphone, when it suddenly vibrated. Damien smiled faintly.

**[19:20 Poppy: Hey, can't come over tonight. Apparently my mom is in town and wants me to got see some movie with her at the cinema ;C hope you're not angry?]**

**[19:22 me: it's alright. not sure if it would be a good idea anyway, aiden's still not talking to me .-.]**

Damien swiped away the messages and continued his exciting game of bubbles, when he got another message.

**[19:24 Poppy: Well that sucks. maybe try to get him laid with someone or something like that hahaha. No but for real, I hope you guys get better soon it's annoying]**

Brenks chuckled and hesitated before answering. He wanted to explain everything to her so badly, but Aiden would probably get even more pissed if he did that without telling him first. So finally he just shook his head and opened the message again.

**[19:27 me: he's not much into that atm hahah. and yeah, i hope that too, he's being such a bitch lately tbh]**

They continued talking with small pauses, as Donna was out with her mother somewhere in a restaurant. They would discuss how to get Aiden to talk again, but Damien found it quite difficult, because he couldn't explain the entire situation. He wanted to ask Poppy about if she had any ideas how to get Aiden to stop kicking him out of his own bed, but he realised it might give it all away.

**[21:35 Poppy: Shit, sorry, got to go. this weird romcom my mom chose ain't gonna watch itself. See you tomorrow, good luck c:]**

**[21:37 me: :C thx, cya]**

So there was that. He didn't even realised that they've talked for this long, but it still didn't feel like long enough. The silence was awful, it felt loud in some way, almost deafening. It wasn't a silence made out of lack of sounds, this silence was thick and forced. Damien hated it, because this kind of tension couldn't be howled down by music or television.

Finally he lied face down on the couch, put a pillow over his head and grunted with frustration. But a plan has already started forming in his head.

He smirked, when he turned on the alarm on his phone.

Brilliant.

 ****  


It wasn't that Aiden _hated_ sleeping alone, he just heavily disliked it since he stopped to do it on daily basis again. But he knew it was absolutely necessary this time, because Damien hated sleeping alone too. It was a punishment, and if Aiden would have to suffer too, so be it.

Pearce looked at his phone every now and then. Damien has been trying to message him from the other room a few times but finally gave up. Aiden finally called Nicky, and though he's been trying to make himself do this for so long, now he just got very disappointed, because she didn't answer.

After hours of browsing some stupid forums and trying to distract himself, he decided to try to go to sleep, though he knew it wouldn't come that easily. He was surprised that it even came at all, way quicker than he predicted. And the usual dreams came into his mind.

It wasn't anything special, it never was. Aiden had lots of nightmares, but if it wasn't one of them, he dreamt of things he missed or wanted. This time it was so simple. The faint memory of Damien's lips and skin softly touching his, it felt so real. It always did. It was one of the memories his mind could recall in a very detailed way, though there were no words, just the warmth and the scent of his lover. Just like every other time.

"Damien..." Aiden let out sleepily. He got aware that he was dreaming and the dream started fading slowly. Aiden wanted just shut his eyes very hard and fall asleep again really fast to get his dream back, when he felt something weird.

Damien's warmth and scent wasn't gone at all. The warm sheets were, though.

"What the..." Aiden started opening his eyes and realised he wasn't lying down anymore, but was held in Damien's grip, clearly carried out of the room. "What the fuck, Damien?" he shouted and wanted to break himself free, but Brenks held his not fully awoken body in a steady grip. "Let me down, what the fuck are you..."

Damien smirked, when Aiden has calmed down a little and proceeded towards the living room in the dark. "Now you're talking."

Pearce opened his mouth again and just grunted angrily, tugging on Damien's t-shirt. Brenks stopped in the middle of the room and gave him a long stare. Aiden stopped moving, absorbed in trying to understand what Damien meant, but he could barely see his face in the dark, so that didn't make it easier. "What?" he finally let out, trying to make this one simple word as short as possible.

"I'm taking my bed back. You're going to the couch, or you're sleeping with me, whether you want it or not," Damien murmured with a snort and Aiden just turned his face away from him.

Sleeping with him was very tempting.

Winning this fight was also very tempting.

He shook his head, gritting his teeth. Damien wheezed and the next thing Aiden knew was that his body met the cold floor with a loud bang, limbs trying to grasp Damien's t-shirt, but failing. Aiden fell onto his side, hitting his hip, butt and elbow. "Did you just fucking drop me?" he couldn't help but groan, massaging his pained hip.

Damien shrugged and turned around to get into the bedroom. "Well, you didn't say _which_ of the options you chose, so I assumed it was neither."

"That's it, asshole. That's. It."

Before Damien realised what was going on, Aiden stood up and jumped up on his back, grabbing him with one arm around his neck and the other one holding down one of Damien's hands. They were struggling like that for a moment, until Damien managed to free himself from the grip and turn around to push away Aiden, who didn't stop just there. Brenks felt a fist fly up to his stomach and he gasped for air, dodging the next hit and hitting his shoulder against the wall. "Enough, Aiden," he let out, dodging another one of Aiden's hits, but he was too slow to jump away from a kick sneakily targetting his knee.

"You fu..." Damien grunted and felt anger bubble up inside of him. He left his defensive position and directed a kick against Aiden's thigh, hitting him on the shoulder when he lost his balance.

"You'll regret this," Pearce growled and pushed him into the bedroom, wanting to tackle him down onto the floor, but Damien resisted for long enough for them both to fall onto the bed. Aiden struck Brenks into the stomach again and flipped him over, getting over him with a knee between Damien's shoulder blades and his hands in a steady grip.

They were both breathing heavily and Damien struggled to get up, while Aiden pressed the knee harder against him, until Brenks let out a pained groan.

"I give up, alright, I give up," he said quickly. Pearce adjusted the pressure to still hold him down, but to not hurt him. It surprised him, when he heard that Damien has started laughing underneath him. "Aiden Pearce, what is it with you, that I still didn't dump you after all this shit?"

Aiden felt a smile slowly creep up onto his face too, when he realised how ridiculous this entire situation was. He let go of his partner and started chuckling. "You started, though," he snorted when Damien sat up slowly, stretching his back with a groan.

"I didn't want to /fight/ you, dumbass," Brenks let out in answer. "But hey, you're talking again. It worked."

Aiden frowned at him and rolled his eyes. "Just because I want to make sure I didn't break you anything. You okay?"

"You spared my face. That's nice, I know you could knock me out with one good hit," Damien laughed. "Damn, you're so childish Aiden."

"First thing, I wanted to avoid questions from Poppy tomorrow, and second," Aiden grabbed two of the pillows and laid them in the middle of the bed as a wall between his and Damien's side," I'm not the one dropping people on the floor in the middle of the night."

"What are you doing?" Brenks muttered and observed Aiden's doings, lifting one eyebrow.

"I'm still sleeping here. Don't you dare touch me until you've apologized."

"I didn't _do_ anything, Aiden! You're acting like a child again, it would be easier if you, you know,  _verbalised_ what I'm doing wrong."

Pearce lied down on the bed and turned his back on the pillow barricade and on Damien. "You _know_ what I mean."

"I don't."

"Goodnight."

"Aiden..."

"Talk to me, when you know what to say."


	16. [Languor]

Two nights they spend like this. None of them slept very well and Aiden still didn't talk, the usual. It got quite annoying, because it was over the weekend and Damien couldn't really distract himself with any work. He invited Poppy over on Saturday and at least one evening was better than the rest of the week, even though Aiden was with them just for a small amount of time and then excused himself saying he was tired and that he'd just "take a nap in Damien's room". Brenks started thinking that Poppy was realising what was going on, but she didn't let them know in any way, so he would leave this topic until she asked explicitely. If she ever did.

"Hey, let's get drunk and forget about how pissed he is," she laughed but then stopped and snorted again. "This sounded so much worse than I meant it to, don't get me wrong."

Damien smirked and opened a can of beer, making himself more comfortable on the couch. "It's alright, I got it," he took a sip from the can. "He's just... I don't know what to do, it's getting so annoying."

Poppy shrugged and played in the glass with the bright pink tequila she brought. "I don't really get the entire situation. I understand that you don't want to kick him out?"

"Hell no," Damien let out a little too quickly, choking on his drink. Donna chuckled when he was struggling with breathing again, coughing. "No, I'm not kicking him out. He's being a bitch, but come on, it's Aiden."

Donna looked at him for a longer while and tilted her head with a smirk. "It's amazing."

"What?" Damien asked and fixed his grip on the can nervously.

"I mean," Poppy started, laying down on the couch and crossing her legs upon Damien's," it's really cute. Dude has been ignoring you for over a week and you're still defending his actions. I want a friend like that."

Brenks drank more of the beer and rested his head against the backrest. This was getting dangerous. He was getting close with this woman and keeping away so much information was really exhausting. "We're kind of addicted to each other. He... he helped me with many things."

Poppy shut her eyes and finished her drink. He played with the chain between her nose and ear before she finally answered. "You guys are so weird. For real. Why do I even hang out with you?"

"Because of my disturbingly good looks?" Damien chuckled and Poppy snickered, reaching for the bottle again.

"Maybe. You're too old for me, sorry to say that," she poured more of the pink liquid and put away the glass to put the cap back onto the bottle.

"I mean don't you have a wife or something?" Good, they got off the risky topic.

Damien sighed. "I'm divorced."

"Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't know," Donna murmured and opened one eye lazily.

"It's alright. It wasn't a very dramatic break-up, no kids, no pets, the car was hers anyway and she left me the apartment, when she moved. I sold it though, I was waiting to tell her how much I hated it for months, but I just couldn't get to it," he added after a moment and smiled looking at a point somewhere beside her with a faint smile.

Donna chuckled and sighed. "Don't you miss her sometimes? I think she made you happy," she observed and Damien's smile faded.

He shook his head slowly, coming back to her with his gaze. "Sometimes I miss her. But I know it wouldn't work, we got so different and now I have other things to care about." _Other people. Other worries._ "We still send each other birthday and holiday cards. Not sure why. She called me when she moved to New Orleans, I think she still lives there."

"That's nice. My parents got divorced, but I don't really remember dad," Poppy shifted on the couch and breathed out. "Not that I care anyway. Me and mom were doing just fine, she even promised to help me pay my college loan if I finally chose a major."

She was surprised to hear Damien snort. "Please, let's not talk college."

"Come on old man, what was your degree?" she asked poking him between the ribs with her foot.

"You'll laugh at me," Damien chuckled and continued drinking the beer.

"Well, I don't have _any_  degree. Come on," Poppy pushed him and finally Brenks just rolled his eyes.

"Computer and information science. The most useless four years of my life, wasted money and time," he muttered. "So here I am, putting metal into people's nipples for living."

"Hey, I do that too!" Donna scoffed playfully and finished her drink. "Mom wanted me to go law, but I didn't want that. I don't know what I want, it's kind of pathetic."

Damien shrugged. "Better that than choosing something you'll regret forever. Aiden didn't go to college either, I don't think he even got his highschool degree."

"Oh are you joking?" Donna asked lowering her voice. "I thought he was a college dude, he seems like that."

Brenks snorted, tilting up his chin with a sparkle of pride in his eye. "Not because he's not intelligent. He's sharp as a knife, just chose work over education. Can't blame him, he's a damn good artist," he said and smiled slightly.

"You're so happy when you talk about him," Poppy noticed and giggled, finishing another glass in one sip. "Cute as fuck. Just like, kiss already or something," she laughed and Damien's heart stopped for a moment before he laughed a little too, to unload the tension. "Jeez, it's late... Sorry, I should get going," Donna said quietly with a yawn, when she looked down at her phone.

"You could stay over if you want." Damien regretted his decision to say that, the second the words slipped out of his mouth. Of course she couldn't stay over; there were too many things that could get uncomfortable if she did. Like the fact that they only really had one set of sheets and it was in the bedroom, so it would be obvious that Aiden doesn't usually sleep on the couch. "Or... or I could pay for a cab for you, I don't want you to walk around drunk," Damien added after a moment.

"I'd love to stay, but my mom will freak out; she's still in town. And I'll be fine without a cab, really," Poppy assured him with a smile and sat up slowly, having to stay like that for a moment before she felt good enough to stand up. "I'll see you on Monday, right? Make sure Aiden makes a run for supplies tomorrow," she said and yawned again, getting just a short worried nod in response. "Don't freak out, I'm not _that_  drunk. I'll message you when I get home, okay?"

Damien pressed his lips together but finally just sighed and put his beer away on the table. "Fine." He stood up slowly and walked her to the door, passing her the jacket from the hanger. "Just make sure you message me, or I'll freak out," he said while raising one eyebrow.

"I just told you _not to_  freak out," Poppy laughed and put on the jacket before opening the door. "I'll lock downstairs, just go to sleep," she murmured, when Damien was already on his way to follow her to the studio to lock it. She waved with her hand lazily and shut the door before the other piercer could follow.

"Yeah, bye," Damien murmured with a sigh, mostly to himself, and locked the door, turning around and walking straight towards the bedroom, but after a second thought he went to the living room again and picked up the cans and the unfinished bottle of Donna's drink to carry them over to the kitchen. After that he stood outside the bedroom door for a moment, trying to hear if Aiden was still awake, but no sounds came from the room, so finally he walked inside. "Babe?" he let out in low voice. He smiled lightly when he got a sleepy murmur in answer from behind the pillow barricade. Aiden wasn't asleep yet, but asleep enough to forget about that he was ignoring Damien.

Brenks fell on the bed next to the pillows and pulled off his clothes with a yawn. "You asleep yet?"

"Fuck off," Aiden growled gracefully and put the pillow over his head, signalling him that he wasn't up for listening. Damien rolled his eyes and tried to reach out to him over the pillows, but Pearce grabbed his hand and moved it away from his hip, back to the other side. "No."

"Fine," the older man muttered and shut his eyes with a louder sigh. "Goodnight."

No answer.

 

 Damien was never more thankful to getting awoken at some inhuman hour, just when the sun started getting up, than this one particular Sunday morning. At first he didn't realize what was wrong, but then he felt a well-known stubble brushing against his neck carefully. Soon the owner of the stubble was trying to sneak even closer, pressing his weight against Damien's. The older man didn't move, not wanting to show that he wasn't asleep anymore, as Aiden was clearly trying to snuggle up without drawing his attention.

The artist wrapped his arm around Damien's waist carefully and pulled himself on top of his chest, resting his head against Brenks' shoulder with a soft sigh, before going still, just breathing slowly. "You could just tell me you were getting lonely," Damien mumbled with a faint smile. Aiden flinched and almost jumped away from him, but the other man held him firmly until he relaxed again. "It's okay."

"No it's not okay at all. I'm weak," Aiden muttered, but then burst into a soft chuckle, hugging Damien more tightly. "I couldn't get myself to talk to you yesterday. I missed you so much," he murmured, breathing out against his neck.

"I wasn't gone. You were," Damien observed slightly bitterly and let his hand run down Aiden's spine, to the edge of his boxers and up again to rub his shoulder blade lightly.

"Because you were a dick," Aiden said in low voice and kissed his neck lightly, as Damien snorted, tilting up his chin to let his lover kiss more of his skin.

"Well you didn't talk to me for days. Way worse than me saying some nice compliments to Poppy, if you ask me," he said sounding clearly upset. He exhaled slowly. "I'm sorry. That's what you wanted to hear?"

"You're not sorry."

"I'm not. Because I still don't think there's anything to be sorry for, but I'll say it anyway, because I love you, okay?" the piercer said gruffly and let his other hand travel down to Aiden's butt. "And I missed you too," he added, when Aiden's lips reached his chin. Pearce didn't respond, he just lift himself a little and kissed Damien's mouth greedily, sitting astride him and resting his hands upon Brenks' shoulders. He was breathing heavily when they parted.

"Well _I_ am definitely not sorry, and I won't say it either," he murmured and Damien smirked, clenching on his butt lightly, making Aiden shiver of surprise, but definitely not protest. 

"I missed all of you. Sleeping alone is awful," Brenks chuckled and sat up with Aiden's legs wrapped around him. "I missed your hands. I missed your warmth. Your lips," he murmured into his ear as Aiden's faint smile was getting wider. Damien let his hands slid down his sides and thighs, kissing his lover's mouth again, feeling Pearce part his lips for him. He let go of Aiden's buttocks and tangled his fingers in his hair, making the kiss deeper, feeling his partner's tongue dance around his. He pulled Aiden away carefully and pushed him onto the bed, kissing him against the mattress. Pearce let out a soft sound, pulling Damien closer to feel his chest against his own.

"I'm never using that kind of policy again, sucks for both of us," Aiden murmured when they parted again and Damien rested his forehead against his, breathing out slowly.

"I love you, I _love_  you," Damien mumbled and kissed him shortly again, running his hand down Aiden's chest. "I know you feel awkward when I say that, so here we go again," he leaned down to Pearce's ear. "I love you."

Aiden smiled faintly and caressed his cheek lightly. "You moron," he snorted and Damien just smirked in response.

That's how Aiden usually said it.


	17. [Art_Is_Hard]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aiden has an awful art block and lives on coffee and work. The usual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys, it's really been a while, hasn't it? Here I'm writing about Aiden's art block, as I'm going through a terrible writing block, basically trying to fight it off the same way he's doing it. Hint: it's not the best idea ever and it definitely doesn't work, but well, what can one do hahaha c":  
> Alright, so this chapter happened and it's not exactly like I wanted it to be, but I'm proud nevertheless that I managed to write it and to finish it. Maybe, just maybe, I will be back on the track soon, but until then, expect some really slow updates. That's about all fics too, though I'll try to get my shit together and finally correct the earliest chapters of [Pay_To_Claim_The_Prize] and finish the chapter that I have going on there. There aren't many left, so I'll try to close that story completely before I'll move on. Of course, that doesn't mean that I won't try to write on the rest, but yeah, it kinda bugs me that I have left it for so long.
> 
> Thank you for still reading this, even though not much plot is happening and I feel like my writing skills are about to hit the bottom, you have no idea how much that means to me. Please, comment about things you like and don't like, I'll try to improve ;u;
> 
> Enjoy!

Aiden wanted to thank all the gods in all religions for that day being a Sunday so he could finally rest. And with Damien, nevertheless. The bad thing about it was that once Aiden stopped being angry a Damien, he had more time to focus his anger and frustration on his work, which wasn't very easy; it was a fact that this week was very rough in particular and the heat was unbearable, even when the air conditioning was doing its job just as it should. Eventually by the end of the week, the heat turned into short, random and loud thunderstorms with lots of rain that passed in a matter of minutes... which was only more distracting and didn't stop the work from being a bitch, mostly to Aiden who was trying to finish up the many orders that were slowly layering up as he just _couldn't_ draw.

"This is some absolutely ridiculously shitty _shit_ ," he growled and threw another ball of crumpled paper sheet from the couch and across the room, making it hit the fridge and bounce down onto the floor. "How do you make a fucking _butterfly_ original nowadays? She already said no to three of my sketches," he whined and flipped over to his stomach, trapping the sketchbook between his body and the seat. The pen was poking somewhere between his ribs but Aiden was too vexed and focused on killing his client in his head to move. Soon, he just curled up and growled in frustration, swaying a little to the sides.

"Maybe just drop that order if it's problematic?" Damien suggested, looking at the crumpled paper that rolled up to his feet where he was next to the kitchen counter. He sighed and took a sip of his coffee, soon bending down to pick up yet another sketch by his partner. He put away the cup and unfolded the paper, tilting his head when he saw the drawing. "What are you talking about, it looks great. Why can't you just show her all the sketches instead of dramatizing?" he grumbled and looked up to Aiden again, where he was wriggling on the couch with just a t-shirt and underwear on. "Seriously Aiden, get your shit together," Damien added bitterly, but a tiny smile was curving his lips, when he looked at the sketch of that butterfly again. It was one out of more than fifteen he saw today, and it was just as well drawn as the others, colored with purple and blue as requested. Brenks was pretty sure that if Aiden actually showed the client all the drawings, she'd eventually pick out something, but the artist was stubborn and just repeated that...

"No, that's not how it works. These just aren't good enough, I don't _feel_  them," he muttered again from the couch and sighed loudly.

"Maybe do something else meanwhile?"

Aiden turned his face to him with a grumpy expression and opened his mouth to say something more, but finally he just wheezed and lied back on the pillow.

"Come here," he mumbled against it and Damien just sighed and put away his coffee, just as he had to do a few times already since monday, walking over to the couch and pushing off Aiden's legs to sit down next to him. The next moment Pearce turned around and rested his head on the piercer's lap, grabbing his hand and putting it in the back of his neck. "I'm so tired, Damien," he murmured and sighed when the man's fingers started caressing his skin gently.

"We should get a vacation soon. Go somewhere, how about that?" Damien purred, sighing when he felt more of Aiden's weight creep up onto his knees.

"No way, I have work to do," he answered and rubbed his cheek against Damien's thigh. "I'm just... I'm so _stuck_."

"Stuck, eh?" Brenks repeated after him and tangled his fingers in Aiden's hair, sighing once again. "So I guess you'll get some comfort and then go back to freaking out?"

"Yes."

"Jeez, Aiden, just take a break. Sometimes you just need a break to not lose it, trust me on that," he said, just as he tried to explain several times already. It's not like Aiden would listen, he was stubborn in more ways than one and he wouldn't give in, he just _had_ to finish his work. _Like an absolute ass_ , Damien thought grumpily, and continued stroking his head and neck slowly.

"No."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"Because you're a dick," Aiden mumbled and sighed. "Fetch me my laptop, I need some inspiration." Damien growled and pushed Pearce off his knees gently before getting up and listening to him for once. He knew well enough that when Aiden was on this kind of frustrated rampage, he was even harder to reason with than usual and even trying made no sense. He wouldn't even try to fight him at this point because it was hopeless, especially since Aiden was purely running on caffeine and short naps since a few days back, too stressed and upset to actually get a full night's sleep.

 

 

"Hey, Aiden, are you even... sleeping?" was the first thing Poppy asked when Pearce crawled down the stairs with a cup of coffee and murder in his tired eyes on Friday morning. He was wearing a creased tank top and sweatpants, which made Donna think that he probably slept in them too. If he got any sleep, that is.

"What?" Aiden mumbled in answer and rubbed his temples, before combing back his hair with his fingers. "No, I'm awake..." he sighed and grunted before walking down all the way to the desk, where Poppy was unpacking a delivery. She snorted quietly and put away one of the packages, tilting his head at Aiden who yawned and put away his coffee on the desk, clumsily reaching out for the calendar.

"I meant nights, dumbass," Poppy snorted and reached forwards to grasp his hand, caressing it with her thumb. Aiden jumped up and dropped the calendar which he just picked up, startled by the sudden touch. "Hey, you shouldn't stress so much," Poppy sighed and pushed the coffee out of his reach so he wouldn't spill it. "And I'm not letting you work today, just look at you."

"What do you mean?" Aiden whined unconciously and reached for the coffee, only to be stopped by Donna's other hand. "Oh come on."

"Your hands are shaking, go upstairs and get some sleep, I'll call off today's client," Poppy added firmly and slowly pushed Aiden away, huffing through her nose at the pout which appeared on his face. "I won't change my mind. Upstairs. Now," she nearly growled and Aiden rolled her eyes at her. Or... well, he _tried_ to roll his eyes at her, but at this point he didn't quite have the control over their movements and he just looked up awkwardly.

"Alright, _fine_. I won't sleep anyway," he muttered gruffly and moved away his hand, slowly backing to the stairs as every single one of his steps was followed by Poppy's gaze. She just sighed and crossed her arms upon her chest, the look she gave him suggesting that she wouldn't accept 'no' as an answer. She kept squinting at him until he disappeared out of her sight. A small sigh escaped her mouth. She glanced over to Aiden's coffee and grabbed the cup, lifting it up to her lips and taking a sip, soon cringing at just how sweet it was. Sweet and strong, she observed with a snort, and picked up the phone from the desk. She would need more coffee before trying to reason with their clients.

 

 

"Aiden, for fuck's sake, come here lie down with me," Damien whined from the bedroom later, already in the early evening. It wasn't very late, maybe half past eight, but Brenks really wanted to make Aiden lie down after he has heard the non-stop scratching of a pen against the tablet from the living room where Pearce kept on drawing in silence, illuminated only by the light coming from his laptop and the last, orange rays of sunshine from outside, now that the last clouds have passed and finally uncovered the sky.

It's been like this since Poppy sent him back up to the apartment, Aiden just ordered a pizza meanwhile and had approximately five thousand cups of coffee.

"Babe, please," Damien sighed again and rubbed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger. With Aiden being so restless and annoyed all the time, Damien was almost in the same state... except for the fact that he was actually sleeping, in opposite to his partner. He was already thinking the night before that maybe he should get Aiden busy and make him exhausted enough to just sleep without being nervous over his work, but because of how much caffeine Pearce has consumed lately, he was ridiculously sensitive to all touch, most of the time. The bad way, too. Aiden jumped up and knocked over whatever was in his way every time Damien tried to kiss him or caress him; he stopped asking for comfort already a while back because he twitched every time a caress was left somewhere on his body. Maybe it was time for another attempt.

"Uh-uh, I'll just finish this..." Aiden mumbled from the living room, but Damien was fully convinced that it was a big, fat lie. He sighed loudly enough for his partner to hear him, before he slowly rolled off the bed and stood up to head out to the living room. He walked up behind the couch slowly and leaned down from behind Aiden to look at his screen. It wasn't the same project he was working on anymore, but just a ton of poses and messy portraits. Damien could recognize himself on two or three of them, and the rest was Poppy and some random clients he remembered seeing the days before. He was incredibly amazed by Pearce's memory, but he wouldn't quite say it now. Encouraging him to draw more was the exact opposite of his goal in this moment.

"Aiden, save it, whatever you're doing," Damien murmured, making Aiden flinch because of how close to his ear voice resonated.

"It's just doodles, I don't need to save it..." he murmured in answer and absentmindedly moved his head a little to the side to lean his face against Damien's cheek. Damien snorted quietly and reached forward to the laptop on the coffee table, shutting it and proceeding to grab the tablet from Aiden's knees, putting it on top of the computer. "I was still working on it," Pearce murmured grumpily, but didn't really move, even when Damien took the pen out of his grip and gently tossed it to the rest of Aiden's things.

"I told you that you shouldn't be drawing in this position, it's not good for your spine..." Damien sighed and pulled back again to kiss the back of Aiden's head. "Let's go to bed."

"I think I'll sleep here," Aiden whined quietly when Damien let go of him. He was already reaching out for his laptop again but he stopped in his tracks when Damien whistled sharply, making him jump up again. He turned his face to Damien with a pout which was barely visible in the faint light. "Come on, maybe if I work on it it will finally work the way it should for me?"

Brenks just shook his head and after a moment of hesitation, he walked around the couch and half-lied down on it, letting one of his legs rest on Aiden's lap while the other one moved in behind his back and the couch. He spread his arms and silently gestured him to come closer, which Aiden soon did, without letting out any words either. Soon, he has pulled up his legs upon the couch as he just buried his face in his lover's naked chest, rubbing his cheek against his tattooed shoulder before making himself more comfortable and just relaxing upon him. Damien smiled slightly to himself and reached down to the floor to pick up a blanket which Aiden earlier let slip down from the couch. He covered them with it and hugged Aiden's head, breathing out louder.

"You can start over tomorrow, alright?" he murmured and looked up to the ceiling, seeing the shadows dance over it slowly every time a car passed by outside. Aiden just mumbled something in answer against his chest, soon relaxing even more and just lying flat as a pleasant, warm weight upon Damien's body, with his arms around his neck. Brenks was both surprised but also very thankful that it was this easy to convince him this time, even though he would very much prefer if he could convince him to go to bed instead of lying on the couch which wouldn't be as comfortable in a couple hours, but he wasn't quite thinking about that last detail in that moment. Aiden's breaths were slowing down and his body was getting more limp and heavy with every passing second, reassuring Damien that he was definitely falling asleep and that was what counted right now, after too many days of struggle. Brenks ran his fingers through his partner's hair, making a mental note to remind Aiden to let him cut it sometime soon, as it was getting definitely too long. He fondled some strands between his fingertips. Not that he minded it a lot, but it made Aiden look even more homeless, when combined with his fashion choices.

They lied like that for several minutes, though Damien wasn't really ready for sleeping just yet, so he just kept stroking Aiden's back and wondering about how tomorrow would be for both of them. He buried his nose in Aiden's brown strands and kissed the top of his head softly, hearing a quiet murmur and the artist's mouth opening with a click. Damien huffed through his nose. Yes, he was deeply asleep at this point, for the first time this week.

Brenks wanted to pull himself up a little to get more comfortable against the armrest, when he suddenly froze, hearing a familiar sound at the door, which made his throat tighten and his heart almost stop. The door was getting unlocked by someone, and Damien knew exactly by whom. Of course he forgot about it, of course that he forgot that he gave Poppy the key a few days back so that she could come over in the evening and give back the movies she borrowed and maybe stay over for a beer or two... That last part probably wouldn't happen, though.

Damien was already on his way to sit up and push away Aiden, just as Aiden would probably do in that moment if he wasn't asleep, but after a second of hesitation he just took a deeper breath and decided to face the consequences of this mistake.

"Hey, I just drove mom to her friends, so I thought I'll bring the bills and the... Oh," Donna stopped in the doorway connecting the hall and the living room. Damien saw her surprised face in the soft light, as she has lowered her voice immediately after she proceeded the situation. For a moment earlier, he thought that maybe it wouldn't be so obvious what was going on, but he quickly realized that the way he held his partner definitely didn't look platonic.

"Oops," Damien let out, finally relaxing a tiny bit. Poppy just huffed through her nose, clearly amused.

"Yeah, oops. Dammit, maybe _I_ wanted to do him? How inconsiderate, you took my chance from me," she joked quietly, stepping closer to them silently and leaving the pile of items on the coffee table. Damien couldn't quite see her face, but once she straightened up and crossed her arms upon her chest as she looked down on them, he could almost tell that she was grinning.

Damien snorted and smiled awkwardly, as he covered Aiden's ear. Maybe it wasn't the best moment for him to worry about this little thing that he didn't want Donna to know about just yet.

"I guess you were a little late... and maybe not quite his type," he murmured with a nervous chuckle and looked up to Poppy in the half light, seeing that she shook her head with a smirk and eyed Aiden's body pressed up tightly against his and covered with the blanket. "Don't tell him that you know," he added quieter. "I don't think it's a good moment."

Poppy picked up the keys from her pocket and put them on top of the pile of movies, before slowly backing out of the room.

"Not a word. Better not worry him more, especially now that he's finally sleeping again," she said, sighing quietly. "Since when are you...?"

"It's... it's complicated. We'll talk tomorrow, alright?" Damien mumbled in answer, already trying to think of a moment in their schedule when he could talk to her in private, maybe explain just why they kept it for themselves for so long. "How did you like the movies?" he asked playfully, as if trying to completely ignore the awkwardness of this situation. Poppy stopped and started laughing quietly again.

"I think that _that_ we can talk about tomorrow as well. They were great, thanks," she said softly and smiled again, even though Damien couldn't see it from the couch. "Alright, I'll be off, sleep well," she added and didn't wait for an answer before emerging from the apartment just as quietly as she earlier got inside.

Damien couldn't tell if it was because she was embarrassed because of seeing them like this, or if it was because she actually really hurried that much to get home, but he was thankful nevertheless. His muscles finally relaxed a tiny bit and he breathed out against Aiden's head, caressing it absentmindedly. If Poppy didn't find this situation stressful, then at least _he_ did. Aiden would probably freak out if he was aware of what just happened, but he was deeply asleep, quietly snoring against Damien's chest.

Damien's heart was slowly calming down, slowing down to the rhythm of his lover's breaths. His mind was calming down too, in fact, because now that he realized that wouldn't have to keep up with all the lies. Damien smirked to himself and exhaled against Aiden's hair again, making him mumble something when the hot air hit his forehead. Maybe accidents like these were sometimes for the better. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...thank you for reading  <3  
> I hope you enjoyed it, even despite me low-key hating it


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